SBIR Phase II: A portable rapid cycling compression device to prevent blood clots

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是减少临床护理环境外个人血栓的发生率。静脉血凝块是最近从医院或临床护理机构出院的个体的常见事件，仅在美国每年估计就有50万例。静脉凝块导致腿部疼痛和肿胀，丧失活动能力，再次住院，在某些情况下甚至死亡。本项目开发了一种新颖的装置，专门用于家庭使用，以增加低行动能力用户的静脉血流量，以防止血栓形成。该项目改善了患者的治疗效果，并减少了约100亿美元的相关成本。这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目利用分子研究确定了调节静脉血栓形成的关键遗传途径。这种保护途径是由典型的活动和流动性刺激的静脉血流的特定模式激活的。然而，在活动能力低的个体中，这种途径可能会丢失，导致静脉血栓形成的风险增加。由于刺激这一途径提供了强大的防止血栓形成的保护，因此该项目提出了一种专门设计的新装置，用于重建激活保护性遗传途径的静脉流动模式。这种模式可以成功地建立在固定的个人外部压迫使用者的小腿。该项目将专注于优化设备的尺寸和重量，同时最大限度地提高患者的舒适度和易用性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to reduce the incidence of blood clots in individuals outside a clinical care setting. Venous blood clots are a common event in individuals who recently been discharged from a hospital or clinical care setting, with an estimated 500,000 cases annually in the US alone. Venous clots cause leg pain and swelling, loss of mobility, re-hospitalization, and even death in some cases. This project develops a novel device, specifically for use at home, to increase venous blood flow in low mobility users to prevent blood clot formation. This project improves patient outcomes and reduces the estimated $10 B in associated costs. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project leverages molecular studies that identified a key genetic pathway that regulates blood clot formation in veins. This protective pathway is activated by specific patterns of venous blood flow stimulated by typical activity and mobility. However, in individuals with low mobility this pathway can be lost resulting in an increased risk for venous blood clot formation. Because stimulation of this pathway offers powerful protection against clot formation, this project proposes a novel device specifically designed to recreate the patterns of venous flow that activate the protective genetic pathway. This pattern may be successfully created in immobile individuals with external compressions applied to the user’s calf. This project will focus on optimizing the device size and weight while maximizing patient comfort and ease of use.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.