STTR Phase I: An Integrated Biomedical Platform and Custom Algorithm to Optimize Feeding Protocols for Preterm Infants

这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力改善了新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）中早产儿的结局。美国每年平均有518，000名早产儿出生，其中49%在出院后出现喂养困难。不能成功喂养的早产儿再入院的风险增加。在美国，有22，721张NICU床位，妊娠期不到32周的婴儿平均住院时间为13.2天。目前的做法是让婴儿在NICU停留更长时间，平均每天花费7,000美元，每年全国花费超过260亿美元。本课题提出了一种新型的饲养监控系统。 估计使用该设备的住院时间缩短2天，每年将使新生儿整体医疗保健支出的财务成本降低89亿美元，并将减少未来医疗干预的需求，因为婴儿出院时具有更强的早期健康基线。这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目推进了NICU护理。 对于入住NICU的婴儿，成功的经口喂养是出院回家的先决条件，但早产儿往往难以掌握经口喂养技能，原因是吞咽与呼吸的协调问题。由于这些神经发育不成熟，早产儿实现安全有效的经口喂养具有挑战性。因此，喂养进展受到维持心肺稳定性困难的限制。所提出的生物医学平台和临床算法接口使用描述呼吸模式的大数据来量化呼吸和吞咽的同步。一种精确测量喂养过程中婴儿呼吸模式的方法为临床医生提供了一种诊断工具，可以更好地为与喂养提前相关的决策提供信息。 该设备提供了喂养成功和出院准备的客观指标。 这将导致减少再入院的失败茁壮成长，大大减少医疗保健的利用和出院后的支出。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project improves outcomes for preterm infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). On average 518,000 preterm infants are born in the US each year and 49% experience difficulty feeding after discharge. Preterm infants who cannot successfully feed are at increased risk of hospital readmission. In the US, there are 22,721 NICU beds and the average length of stay for an infant born less than 32 weeks gestation is 13.2 days. The current practice is for babies to remain longer in the NICU at an average cost of $7,000 per day and a national cost of more than $26 billion a year. This project advances a new feeding monitoring system. An estimated 2-day reduction in length of stay with this device will lower the financial cost of overall neonatal healthcare expenditure by $8.9 billion annually and will reduce the need for future medical interventions because infants are discharged with a stronger early-stage health baseline. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project advances NICU care. For infants admitted to the NICU, successful oral feeding is a prerequisite for discharge home, but preterm infants often struggle with oral feeding skills, due to problems coordinating swallowing with breathing. Achieving safe and efficient oral feeding in preterm infants is challenging because of these neurodevelopmental immaturities. Feeding progress is therefore limited by difficulties in maintaining cardiorespiratory stability. The proposed biomedical platform and clinical algorithm interface uses big data describing breathing patterns to quantify the synchronization of breathing and swallowing. A precise method of measuring infant breathing patterns during feeding gives clinicians a diagnostic tool to better inform decisions related to feeding advancement. This device provides objective metrics of feeding success and discharge readiness. It will result in decreased readmissions for failure to thrive, substantially reducing healthcare utilizations and post-discharge expenditures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.