Microfluidic Blood Purification

描述（由申请人提供）：基于血液净化的新概念，设想开发可穿戴人工肾脏：血液与混溶冲洗液直接接触。使用这个概念的系统需要几个组件。这个方案的重点是关键部件，一个无膜接触器，在这个无膜接触器中，一层薄薄的血液被两层漂洗液包裹。这三张纸一起流动约1秒没有混合，然后分离。纳米孔过滤器用于确保分离的漂洗液不含细胞。血液毒素转移到漂洗液的速度比目前的设备要快得多，接触面积也小得多。血液在接触器中只接触另一种液体，不接触固体。拟议的研究将证明混合是有限的，流动是稳定的，转移和计算一样快，过滤器保留细胞而不堵塞。临床上有效的接触器应该非常小且容易佩戴。如果成功，该系统将是35年来透析治疗的第一个重大变化，并将是微流体和纳滤技术首次应用于治疗医学。该系统将允许对肾衰竭进行稳定的、更多的生理补偿，而不是目前在诊所进行的高强度治疗。这将是透析治疗的首批创新之一，有可能降低治疗成本。然而，即使无膜接触器完全实现，其他技术问题，被认为不那么困难，但仍然重要，必须解决之前，该设备可以提供给一般患者群体。为治疗终末期肾脏疾病（ESRD）设想可穿戴人工肾脏的早期发展。它是基于血液净化的一个新概念：直接无膜接触，不混合，血液与混溶冲洗液。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Development of a wearable artificial kidney is envisioned, based on a new concept in blood purification: direct contact of blood with a miscible rinsing fluid. A system that uses this concept would require several components. This proposal is sharply focused on the critical component, a membraneless contactor in which a thin sheet of blood is sheathed by two sheets of rinsing fluid. The three sheets flow together for about 1 sec without mixing and are then separated. Nanopore filters are used to assure that the separated rinsing fluid contains no cells. The speed of blood toxin transfer to the rinsing fluid is much higher than in current devices and the area of contact is much less. Blood contacts only another fluid, no solid, in the contactor. The proposed research would prove that mixing is limited, that the flow is stable, that transfer is as rapid as calculated, and that the filters retain cells without clogging. A clinically effective contactor would be very small and easily worn. If successful, this system would be the first major change in dialysis therapy in 35 years, and would be the first application of microfluidics and nanofiltration to therapeutic medicine. This system would allow steady, more physiological compensation for kidney failure than is possible with current intense episodes of treatment in clinics. It would be one of the first innovations in dialysis therapy with the potential of lowering the cost of therapy. However, even if the membraneless contactor is fully realized, other technical problems, thought to be less difficult but still significant, must be solved before the device could be made available to the general patient population.Early development of a wearable artificial kidney for the treatment of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is envisioned. It is based on a new concept in blood purification: direct membraneless contact, without mixing, of blood with a miscible rinsing fluid.