Intelligent Ureteral Stent System for Prevention of Renal Damage

至少有10%的加拿大人（约350万加拿大人）会在一生中患上肾结石，这将导致严重的患者发病率和医疗保健系统的负担。这个问题进一步恶化，约50%的患者会在5年内重复发作。大多数患者的治疗方法是在输尿管（连接肾脏和膀胱的管道）放置输尿管支架，一种薄的中空塑料管，以确保适当的尿液排出可能堵塞的结石。输尿管支架也用于癌症患者，以维持因肿瘤生长而被压缩的输尿管的尿流。然而，支架本身往往会导致尿流阻塞，因为它限制了输尿管将尿液推向膀胱的波状情感，或者在支架上形成晶体。在这种情况下，肾脏肿胀，这种情况被称为肾积水，如果不及时治疗，会导致肾脏损伤和最终衰竭。这项研究将开发一种新型的智能输尿管支架，它将在留置过程中持续跟踪肾压力，独特地允许在肾积水发展之前早期检测压力增加。这将使无创、定量和经济有效的跟踪成为可能，这是目前任何现有诊断途径都无法实现的。这些支架将被开发成射频天线，内置微压力传感器和微电子芯片，以无线感知和传输肾脏压力。该设备将使用UBC提供的微系统技术进行原型制作。这种新型支架技术将允许肾结石患者在家中使用便携式监测器检查状态，并向泌尿科医生发出进一步诊断和必要治疗的警报。研究结果有望促进不同类型的支架和其他植入物获得感知特征，用于泌尿外科以外的广泛医学应用。

At least 10% of the Canadian population (>3.5 million Canadians) will develop a kidney stonein their life, resulting in significant patient morbidity and burden on the healthcare system. Thisproblem is further deteriorated as ~50% of the patients will have a repeat episode within 5years. Most patients are treated by placing a ureteral stent, a thin hollow plastic tube, in theureter (the duct that bridges the kidney to the bladder) to ensure proper urine drainage pastthe stone that may be blocking it. Ureteral stents are also used in cancer patients to maintainurine flow through the ureter that may be compressed by growing tumor. The stent itself,however, often causes an obstruction in the urine flow, by limiting the ureters wave-likemotion to push urine down to the bladder and/or by building up crystals on the stent. In suchcase, the kidney swells, a condition known as hydronephrosis, which results in kidney injuryand eventual failure if left untreated. This research will develop a novel smart ureteral stentthat will continuously track renal pressure while it is indwelling, uniquely allowing for earlydetection of increased pressure before damaging hydronephrosis develops. This will enablenon-invasive, quantitative, and cost-effective tracking that is currently not available via anyexisting diagnostic route. The stents will be developed to function as radiofrequencyantennas, with embedded micro pressure sensors and microelectronic chips to wirelesslysense and transmit renal pressure. The device will be prototyped using microsystemstechnology available at UBC. This novel stent technology will allow kidney stone patients tocheck the status using a portable monitor at home, giving an alarm for the need of furtherdiagnosis and necessary treatment by urologists. The research results are anticipated topromote different types of stents and other implants to acquire perceptual features for a widerange of medical applications beyond the urologic area.