BATON ROUGE - A first of its kind research rolled out at Our Lady of the Lake last year, and doctors say a new technology is leading to improvements and saving lives.

Hollis O’Neal, MD is a physician at LSU Health Services Center and Medical Director of Research at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, and his team worked on a test to detect sepsis.

O’Neal says sepsis, a blood infection some people have trouble fighting off, is one of the leading causes of death in hospitals. In some cases, he says the immune system works in excess and causes harm to other parts of the body.

“It's the most common cause of hospital readmission, and It really accounts for a huge number of our resources," O’Neal said.

With the frequency of fatalities and the chance for spreading, O’Neal says detection and diagnosis is critical early on.

In the past year, Our Lady of the Lake has tested more than 3,000 patients for sepsis. O’Neal says experts are using a new machine, no bigger than a college dorm mini fridge, which was developed by a former LSU medical student. With the machine, doctors are testing patients’ blood and giving diagnoses in a matter of minutes, using fewer resources.

“With this technology, we're able to make a better diagnosis, a faster diagnosis, and deliver the right care to the patients,” O’Neal said. “Now we can leverage that technology to stratify patients to see who needs to be treated for sepsis, and who may have something else.”