Inline RF Warmer Using RF Technology

体温过低是一种在各种临床环境中遇到的常见情况，包括创伤、重症监护、 围手术期/术后护理和肾脏替代治疗期间。体温过低的原因有 范围广泛，包括危重疾病、麻醉诱导或医源性亚体温液体注射 (即液体或血液制品)。有效地预防和治疗体温过低至关重要，因为它 存在与不良的临床结果相关，包括增加死亡率。在现有的治疗方法中， 提高核心体温的方法[温热静脉(IV)液]比体外更有效 方法(加热毯)。因此，给液体加温是一种被广泛接受和常用的方法。 体温过低的防治技术。目前可用来加热医疗液体的技术 依靠简单的热交换方法(对流、感应)，这些方法过时了，有许多 缺点。常用的装置可分为两类：1)容纳大量流体的装置 成交量在快速增长。它们都很大，缺乏便携性，消耗更多的能量，并且需要广泛的设置。2)更多 便携式设备速度较慢，不适合大容量复苏。在这两组人中，对一次性用品的需求 这扰乱了本地的递送系统，增加了成本和污染风险，导致了重大的患者安全问题。 此外，这两个集团的组建过程都可能既复杂又繁琐。 这项拟议的研究旨在开发一种实时在线安全加热医疗液体的创新技术 使用射频(RF)能量的时尚。射频(微波)更节能，并允许几个重要的 优势包括更高的便携性。此外，在提议的技术中，热点问题，即 以前这种技术的使用受到限制，通过新颖和创新的设计缓解了这种限制，从而允许 将射频能量直接应用于输送油管中的横流流体。这种能量转移模式 避免了对一次性用品的需求，降低了成本，降低了污染风险，并提高了易用性。 拟议的项目旨在论证设计和开发射频流体加热器的可行性。 避免由射频工程师团队使用设计/质量控制流程产生热点的设备。 这将在咨询各种专科的临床医生的情况下进行，这些医生通常治疗体温过低和 医疗器械开发监管方面的专家。 鉴于体温过低在各种医疗环境中是一种严重而常见的并发症， 这种技术是巨大的，可以包括应急小组、军事医疗系统、医院、 门诊手术中心和透析提供者。此外，安全有效地加热医疗液体的能力 以一种易于操作的方式，提高患者的安全性，可以促进该技术的更广泛使用 从而增加了它的市场份额。最后，一旦开发出这项技术，就可以适用于各种 其他受低温影响的区域(如血浆透入、体外循环)。

Hypothermia is a common condition encountered in a variety of clinical settings including trauma, critical care, peri/post-operative care and during administration of renal replacement therapy. The causes of hypothermia are vast and include critical illness, induction of anesthesia or iatrogenic administration of sub-body temperature fluids (i.e. fluids or blood products). Effective prevention and treatment of hypothermia is of vital importance given that its presence is associated with poor clinical outcomes including increased mortality. Of the available therapies, methods which increase core body temperature [warm intravenous (IV) fluids], are more effective than external methods (heating blankets). Hence, warming of fluids being administered is a well-accepted and commonly used technique for prevention and treatment of hypothermia. Currently available techniques used to warm medical fluids rely on simple heat-exchange methodologies (convection, induction) which are outdated and have numerous shortcomings. The devices commonly used can be divided into two groups:1) devices which accommodate large fluid volumes at fast rates. These are large, lack portability, consume greater energy, and require extensive set-up. 2) More portable devices which are slower and not suitable for large volume resuscitation. In both groups, the need for disposables which disrupt the native delivery system increases cost and risk of contamination leading to major patient safety issues. Moreover, the set-up process for both groups can be complicated and cumbersome. The proposed research aims to develop an innovative technology to safely warm medical fluids in a real-time inline fashion using radiofrequency (RF) energy. RF (microwave) is more energy efficient and allows for several important advantages including increased portability. Furthermore, in the proposed technology the issue of hotspots, which previously limited the use of this technique, is mitigated via a novel and innovative design thereby allowing for RF energy to be directly applied to the traversing fluid in the delivery tubing. This mode of transfer of energy circumvents the need for disposables, lowering costs, reducing risk of contamination and improving ease-of-use. The proposed project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of design and development of a RF fluid warmer apparatus which avoids hotspot generation by a team of RF engineers using design/quality control processes. This will be done in consultation with clinicians in various specialties who routinely treat hypothermia and specialist in the regulatory aspects of medical device development. Given that hypothermia is a serious and common complication in a variety of medical settings, the potential utility for such a technology is vast and can include emergency response teams, military medical systems, hospitals, outpatient surgery centers and dialysis providers. In addition, the ability to warm medical fluids safely and effectively in an easy to operate manner with improved patient safety can enhance more widespread use of this technology thereby increasing its market share. Finally, once developed this technology can be adapted for use in various other areas affected by hypothermia (i.e. plasmaphoresis, cardiopulmonary bypass).