Fallouh Healthcare

Cardiac tamponade is a significant and preventable cause of mortality following cardiac surgery, contributing up to 10% of all postoperative deaths.

This life-threatening complication is caused by an accumulation of fluid and blood clots in the pericardium that compresses the heart and reduces its ability to pump effectively. The result is a sharp decline in cardiac output and, ultimately, shock. Diagnosing tamponade remains a major challenge for clinicians, as its symptoms can easily be mistaken for other causes of heart failure.

Fallouh Healthcare, founded by cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Hazem Fallouh, is developing PerDeCT™, an innovative device to address this problem. The device measures cardiac output to enable the early detection of tamponade following surgery, giving clinicians the opportunity to intervene with a planned, safer return to surgery to drain fluid and clots.

PerDeCT™ consists of a probe and balloon placed in the pericardium during surgery. By monitoring the relationship between balloon inflation and cardiac efficiency, it can detect changes that warn that tamponade is developing.

The company began its journey in Unit 9, where the first PerDeCT™ prototype was produced. The support from UoBE proved essential, not only for workspace but also for access to the wider research community, which provided advice, connections to suppliers, and specialist expertise. Proximity to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where Dr Fallouh practices surgery, was a further advantage and an important factor in the company’s location choice.

As the team expanded, Fallouh Healthcare moved into offices at Birmingham Research Park, where it continues to grow with the support of the Enterprise team. Today, the company has a team of five specialists, bringing unique expertise to the development and commercialisation of PerDeCT™. “The Enterprise team supported our move into a new suite at Birmingham Research Park, so we’re still here, and we intend to stay,” says Dr. Fallouh.