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：血液与可混溶冲洗液直接接触。使用这一概念的系统将需要几个组成部分。这项提议是尖锐的关键组成部分，一个无膜接触器，其中一个薄片的血液是由两张冲洗液。这三个薄片一起流动约1秒而不混合，然后分离。纳米孔过滤器用于确保分离的冲洗流体不含细胞。血液毒素转移到冲洗液中的速度比目前的装置要快得多，接触面积也小得多。血液只接触器中的另一种流体，而不接触固体。拟议的研究将证明，混合是有限的，流动是稳定的，转移是一样快的计算，过滤器保留细胞没有堵塞。临床上有效的接触器将非常小并且容易磨损。如果成功，该系统将是35年来透析治疗的第一次重大变革，也将是微流体和纳滤在治疗医学中的首次应用。该系统将允许对肾衰竭进行稳定的、比目前临床上的密集治疗更生理性的补偿。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，即使无膜接触器是完全实现的，其他技术问题，被认为是不那么困难，但仍然显着，必须解决之前，该设备可以提供给一般patientpopulation.Early可穿戴人工肾的发展终末期肾病（ESRD）的治疗设想。它基于血液净化的新概念：血液与可混溶冲洗液直接无膜接触，而不混合。

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.