UC Case No. 2019-873
SUMMARY:
UCLA researchers in the Department of Cardiology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine have developed a smart dialysis catheter that can measure different patient vitals in real-time to prevent hospitalizations due to renal failure.
BACKGROUND:
Kidney failure currently affects 660,000 Americans. 468,000 of these individuals require dialysis, costing Medicare around $83,356 per patient per year. A significant portion of this cost comes from hospitalization of patients suffering from cardiac conditions arising due to renal failure. Preventative measures like tracking central venous pressure can reduce hospital visits by preventing dangerous blood volumes that can lead to heart failure and other cardiac complications.
INNOVATION:
Researchers led by Dr. Rafique from the Cardiology Department at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine have developed a smart dialysis catheter that can measure different patient vitals in real-time to prevent hospitalizations due to renal failure. Along with dialysis, the catheter can measure vitals such as: central venous pressure, blood glucose, potassium, and pH measurements. Accurate, real-time, measurement of central venous pressure allows for better volume optimization to prevent heart failure. Measurements of serum potassium and serum pH levels can help with choosing dialysis time/type. Furthermore, since over a third of renal failure patients have diabetes, the ability to measure glucose can improve their quality of life by decreasing the number of needle sticks to improve adherence to medical therapy. Lastly, all this information can be transmitted to a mobile device via Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth and stored for future uses in improving patient care.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
• Dialysis
• Measurement of patient vitals
ADVANTAGES:
• Accurate
• Real-time
• Mobile-ready
• Improved patient convenience