Many patients have suffered life-threatening infection after heart bypass surgery. New research has found that some of these infections that have occurred after cardiac surgery may be as a result of contaminated hospital equipment.

When a patient undergoes open heart surgery, the surgeons often used a device called a cardiac heater-cooler system. A cardiac heater-cooler system is a medical device that helps keep the body temperature of patients at a regulated rate during surgery.

The benefit to this is that recovery time is often quicker, care is optimized and patient outcomes are improved.

Cardiac heater-cooler devices use water to regulate the body temperature of heart bypass patients and other heart surgery patients. While water never comes into contact with the patient, heated or cooled water is used to keep the patient stable during surgery. The device provides heated or cooled water to other devices such as a warming or cooling blankets or heat exchangers.

However, many patients have reported a concerning infection after heart bypass surgery and other cardiac surgeries. It was found that the water in some of these cardiac heater-cooler devices, namely those manufactured by LivaNova, were contaminated with a bacteria known as nontuberculous mycobacterium.

Nontuberculous mycobacterium, when present in the water of a cardiac heater-cooler device, can be aerosolized in an operating room. When this happens, the bacteria can come into contact with the patient through open wounds.

Many patients have suffered infection after heart bypass surgery and other cardiac surgeries as a result of the LivaNova-made cardiac heater-coolers.

One man, in particular, suffered a severe infection after he underwent an aortic valve replacement in May 2015. After his surgery, he began experiencing unexplained weight loss, night sweats, persistent fevers and a lack of appetite. When he went to the doctor, they found that his white blood cell count was low but didn’t know what was wrong.

Meanwhile, the hospital at which he received his surgery announced the presence of nontuberculous mycobacterium in the cardiac heater-coolers used in many cardiac surgeries. Over 1,300 patients had been exposed to the bacteria.

The hospital tested him for the bacteria and found that he had probably contracted it as a result of the cardiac surgery. He suffered acute renal failure, aortic valve endocarditis and lost over sixty pounds. The recovery process was lengthy, requiring daily intravenous antibiotics for an extended period of time.

He is not the only patient who has suffered infection after heart bypass surgery or other cardiac surgeries.

Science Daily reports that thirty-seven percent of heater cooler units assessed in a study tested positive for nontuberculous mycobacterium. They also report that about sixty percent of all cardiac heater-cooler units used in surgeries in the United States are made by LivaNova.

The study performed looked at over 650 water samples from 23 hospitals in 14 states. Both nontuberculous mycobacterium was found as well as another bacteria, Legionella. They reported that even after disinfection, some units remained contaminated.

If you or someone you love has experienced an infection after heart bypass surgery or another type of cardiac surgery, you may be entitled to legal compensation.