Noninvasive Raman Monitoring of Urea During Hemodialysis

我们的第一阶段研究计划旨在开发一种连续的、非侵入性的、在线的过程来监测血液透析期间患者血液中的尿素水平。我们建议利用低分辨率拉曼散射直接测量血液中的尿素水平，使用将患者血液输送到透析器的管道中提供的光学通道。我们过去和初步的结果表明，尿素具有独特的拉曼光谱特征，可以在全血背景下识别和量化。该过程的最终目标是提供透析效率的直接和连续测量，而不必等待抽取血液样本，首次提供透析在任何时间点是否达到患者有效停止点的评估，以及在患者治疗期间提供透析系统有效性的持续读数。第一阶段项目旨在评估低分辨率拉曼技术在不同尿素浓度的犬血液样本中量化尿素水平的能力。第二阶段将把评估过程扩展到实际透析过程中的人体血液分析。拟议的商业应用：如果成功，拉曼测量方法将首次提供一种设备，可以实时、连续地监测血液透析过程中尿素去除的进展。在商业应用中，这种装置将直接集成到透析器中。

Our Phase 1 research program seeks to develop a continuous, non- invasive, on-line process for monitoring levels of urea in a patient's blood during hemodialysis. We propose to utilize low-resolution Raman scattering for direct measurement of the urea levels in blood using the optical access provided in the tubing delivering the patient's blood to the dialyzer. Our past and preliminary results have shown that urea has a unique Raman spectroscopic signature and can be identified and quantified against a whole blood background. The ultimate goal of such a process would to provide a direct and continuous measure of the efficiency of dialysis without having to wait for the drawing of a blood sample, providing for the first time an assessment of whether dialysis at any point in time has reached an effective stopping point for the patient, as well as providing an ongoing readout of the effectiveness of the dialysis system during patient treatment. The Phase 1 program is designed to assess the capability of low resolution Raman to quantify the levels of urea in canine blood samples with varying concentrations of urea present. Phase 2 would expand the evaluation process to human blood analysis during actual dialysis procedures. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Is successful, a Raman measurement approach would, for the first time, provide a device that would allow real-time, continuous monitoring of the progress of urea removal during the course of hemodialysis. Such a device would be directly integrated into the dialyzer in commercial application.