A novel air microfluidics technology - enabling active compression apparels for treating lymphedema, edema and muscle recovery for strenuous work and exercise

乳腺癌相关淋巴水肿。依赖性浮肿是脊髓损伤患者的一种继发性疾病，以及由于剧烈工作/剧烈运动造成的肌肉损伤，每年都会降低生活质量，影响数百万人。这些问题的医疗治疗费用高昂，通常需要手动按摩患肢，以帮助减少组织肿胀和改善血液循环，然后包扎，进一步减少肿胀或提升肌肉。开发负担得起的居家按压疗法的需求很高，例如具有模仿手动按摩的间歇性气动按压的可穿戴系统。2019年，全球按压治疗市场价值为31亿美元，到2025年，全球按压治疗市场价值为42亿美元。最先进的技术体现了性能、可负担性和便携性之间的权衡，因为需要与用于压缩的气囊相同数量的机电阀门。该研究团队开发了一种新的空气微流体驱动技术，能够解决权衡难题。核心技术是一种微流控芯片，具有微和微型通道网络，能够顺序充气一系列气囊执行器，这些执行器可以集成到服装中，以主动给受影响的肢体加压。来自我们外部合作伙伴的反馈，包括Haley Rehab、Praxis脊髓研究所、Myant Inc.和Armoury Sports Medicine，建议需要单独控制具有压力保持功能的气囊，这将是拟议项目的关键目标之一，以及其他改进，如优化芯片以实现慢速和快速压缩、提高系统耐用性和简化生产以降低成本。将与我们的合作伙伴/潜在客户合作，对这些拟议的改进在有前景的应用(淋巴水肿和肌肉骨骼疾病的治疗/管理)方面进行初步测试。计划中的测试版测试和应用程序测试的结果将有助于建立垂直目标市场(S)、可能的初创公司创建的时机以及上市战略。

Breast cancer related lymphedema. dependent edema, a secondary condition in individuals with spinal cord injury, and muscle injuries due to strenuous work/heavy exercise affect millions of people every year by diminishing the quality of life. Medical treatments for these problems are expensive often involving manual massaging the affected limb to help reduce tissue swelling and improve blood circulation followed by bandaging further reducing swelling or lifting the muscle. It is in high demand to develop affordable at-home compression therapy such as wearable systems with intermittent pneumatic compression mimicking the manual massaging. The global compression therapy market was valued at USD 3.1 billion in 2019 and USD 4.2 billion by 2025. The state-of-the-art technologies present trade-offs between performance, affordability and portability due to the need for the same number of electromechanical valves as the air bladders for compression.This research team has developed a novel air microfluidics powered technology which is capable of addressing the trade-off dilemma. The core technology is a microfluidic chip with a network of micro- and mini-channels enabling sequential inflation of an array of air bladder actuators which can be integrated into apparels to actively pressurize the affected limb. Feedback from our external partners including Haley Rehab, Praxis Spinal Cord Institute, Myant Inc. and the Armoury Sports Medicine suggest the need for individual control of the air bladders with a pressure-holding feature, which will be one of the key objectives for the proposed project together with other improvements such as optimizing the chip for slow and fast compression, increasing the system durability and streamlining production to reduce cost. Preliminary testing of these proposed improvements in promising applications (treatment/management of lymphedema and musculoskeletal conditions) will be performed in collaboration with our partners/potential customers. The results of the planned beta trials and application testing will help establish target market vertical(s), timing of a possible startup company's creation, and a go-to-market strategy.