Founded in 2015, Esculon is the eighth spin-out of TheraNova, a San-Francisco-based medical device incubator. The medical device is a small-bore chest tube that is inserted into patients who have undergone cardiothoracic surgery to ensure proper post-surgical drainage. Approximately 750,000 major cardiothoracic surgeries are performed yearly. Existing chest drainage systems, which have not been updated in decades, have been known to be ineffective at draining fluid, sometimes leading to major post-surgical complications, life-threatening conditions, longer hospital stays and increased health care costs. This new device is designed to minimize any potential injury to surrounding organs that may occur with larger tubes. It also is expected to facilitate proper fluid drainage thereby promoting full healing and recovery in less time.
