Hot Technologies

ACABI is continually expanding its field of candidate technologies that become the building blocks for novel solutions to unmet needs — cutting-edge innovation that could drive the next generation of medical devices, biomarkers, pharmaceuticals and more.

By mixing and matching these varying technologies, independently and/or in conjunction with solid existing technical approaches, ACABI will produce a steady stream of breakthrough products that successively resolve real problems, changing lives for people around the world.

ACABI Technologies in Play

Background: The relevance of our project lies in the world of thrombosis or “clot formation,” which is a basic pathological process underlying many diseases including heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease, limb ischemia, and pulmonary emboli. Central in each of the elements driving clot formation is the platelet. Platelets are initially activated though biochemical and mechanical mechanisms. Following activation platelets begin to aggregate, which leads to progressive clot formation, vessel occlusion, tissue ischemia, infarction, and ultimately death. The ability to effectively monitor platelet function at the Point of Care allows for an objective method to assess the need for surgical blood transfusions, use of anti-platelet therapies to mitigate bleeding risks, and the effectiveness of ongoing therapy for the high bleeding or clotting risk patients.

Invention: PlakDx’s MICELI aims to be a reliable, easy to use, portable, inexpensive platelet function monitoring device which can replace the use of the current platelet aggregometers in worldwide health care administration. Our technology will function as a monitoring device used in both high risk surgical procedures where platelet activation is a prime factor, as well as, long term monitoring of anti-platelet drugs for high risk users in the home, field, and primary laboratory facilities. Specifically, we have developed a Point of Care (POC) platelet function monitoring device; for use in the perioperative stage of surgical procedures for patients with high probability of bleeding and potential need for blood transfusion; and long term monitoring of patients who currently take anti-platelet therapies, targeting those who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or received an implanted mechanical circulatory support device.

Application: Patients who have been identified as high risk going into surgical procedures or undergoing high risk procedures will benefit from perioperative platelet function monitoring, specifically in cardiac related procedures such as cardiopulmonary bypass. “Platelet dysfunction after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a major contributor to microvascular bleeding, and associated with excessive blood loss, perioperative blood transfusion and surgical re-exploration. The effects include a reduction in concentration of platelets and alteration in platelet structure and function.” Consequently, platelet transfusions are often performed when excessive bleeding is observed because platelet dysfunction is assumed to be the issue, despite normal or near normal platelet counts. Transfusion algorithms are in common use for administration of blood products and a reduced platelet count is a universal trigger when utilized. Platelet and whole blood transfusions are only used when necessary and must provide obvious benefits over the side effects including lung injury, immunomodulation, fluid overload, infection and death. The inclusion of POC platelet function monitoring in the guidance for administration of transfusion therapy would be of great benefit to the medical staff in the treatment decision process, providing vital

Advantages: Traditional platelet aggregometry involves large, expensive instruments that are only available in specialized clinical laboratories and cost upwards of $40,000 per device. Additionally, traditional aggregometers are require specialized expertise and are sensitive devices making operation in primary clinics, a clinical department, in the field or home impossible in its current forms. The process of collecting, transporting, testing, and reading the results can take more than 24 hours limiting its impact on the treatment of the patient. Due to the cost and cumbersome nature of traditional aggregometers, these tests are not usually performed on a routine basis other than in tertiary medical centers. Addressing the cost and cumbersome nature of the traditional devices, our device is a highly portable system can be developed at 20% of the cost of an optical aggregometer, easy to use, and provide accurate results at the bedside, in clinic, in the field, or at home.

 

 

HeCOS 

Summary

Background:  Current home-based RAD devices work by administering air or a mixture of air and oxygen under high pressure. These Conventional positive-airway pressure therapies administered in the home setting are poorly tolerated in patients requiring respiratory assist devices. The reasons for such poor tolerance are the high airway pressure administration which, In turn, causes noxious sensation to the nose, mouth, sinuses and upper airways as well as dryness of the respiratory airways. Such poor tolerance leads to treatment non-adherence, and ineffective therapeutic benefits. Up to 50% of patients prescribed home-based RAD devices are non-adherent to therapy for these very reasons.

Invention: This invention ia a home-based Heliox device with C02 removal system which is a self-monitoring respiratory assist device that delivers a low pressure, low viscosity (Heliox) gas to alleviate work of breathing in the home setting while monitoring and removing C02 and delivering humidification and de-humidifying gas during C02 removal.  

Application: This invention can be used to replace all home based RAD devices for use by those with respiratory ailments which are commonly treated via positive-airway pressure therapy.  

Advantages: This invention has been demonstrated to be superior to the state-of-the-art in (a) theory, (b) simulations, and (c) using real data. Our simulation results show orders of magnitude in improvement, as compared to traditional methods. Real results from data closely replicate the performance of our simulations.

• Built-in safety mechanisms to sense and avoid C02 rebreathing

• Built-in dehumidification and humidification  that  enables  adequate C02 removal while preventing dryness  of mucous membranes lining the respiratory tract.

• Self-monitoring with built-in humidity, C02, and 02 sensors  

Polysulphones

 

Summary

Background:  A continuing need exists for biostable, tough elastomers, particularly for use in long-term, dynamic medical implants (including, but not limited to: cardiac pacing lead insulation, cardiac assist device bladders, chronic indwelling catheters, and other medical implants subject to biodegradation). Existing elastomers used in these applications (e.g. polydimethylsiloxanes and segmented polyurethanes) have various shortcoming, and no single existing elastomer has an ideal combination of toughness and other mechanical properties while also being biocompatible and biostable (i.e. resistant to oxidative and hydrolytic biodegradation).  

Invention:  This invention involves the creation of novel, segmented polysulfone compositions, which consist of both hard and soft segments. These polysulfone compositions demonstrate a high degree of toughness and other useful elastomeric properties are biocompatible, and resistant to biodegradation. Further, the ratios of “hard” to “soft” segments are adjustable, allowing for the creation of customized, application-specific compositions with tailored elastomeric and chemical properties.  

Applications:  The biocompatibility, biostability, and unique, application adjustable elastomeric properties of these compositions mean that they are particularly well-suited for use in medical devices, both topical and implantable, and especially those for long-term use. Further, the unique combination of chemical stability and desirable, application-dependent adjustable elastomeric properties of these compositions mean they are also well suited for use in a variety of engineering thermoplastics applications.  

Advantages: The present invention is offers a unique combination of chemical stability (particularly biostability), toughness, and other desirable elastomeric properties.

  • Ratios of “soft” to “hard” segments may be altered
  • Compositions of this material can be tweaked to achieve a number of different chemical and elastomeric properties.
  • Users may thus adjust the properties of these compositions for the particular requirements of their intended use.  

 

HyperShear in A Channel

 

Summary

Background:  There are 670,000 new cases of heart failure every year with roughly 160,000 patients being eligible for a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). LVADs are becoming an increasingly more popular long term solution to heart failure. With the increased use of these devices it has become apparent that dosing for anti-thrombolytics needs to be reconsidered. Current dosing trials are primarily done on healthy patients with very different blood flow patterns than exhibited in patients with LVADs. Shear stresses exhibited in patients blood can vary greatly and therefore should be treated differently.

Invention: The presented technology utilizes device thrombogenicity emulation. A method which mimics the shear stresses that would be exhibited within the patient in order to assess proper anti-thrombolytic therapies. Shear stresses are observed in a microfluidic facsimile of a VAD, which can quickly be translated to assess the personal risk of thrombosis. This allows for point of care testing on a patient-by-patient basis with optimal therapy dosages.

Advantages:
•       Therapy dosage on a patient-by-patient basis
•       Point-of-care capabilities
•       Decreases risk of thrombosis

Applications:
•       Patients with ventricular assist devices
•       Patients at high risk of thrombosis
•       Diagnostic for patients taking anti-thrombolytics

Lead Inventor: Marvin Slepian
 

Background: Platelets, essential for hemostasis, are easily activated via biochemical and mechanical stimuli. In addition, cell stiffness is a vital parameter modulating the mechano-transduction of exogenous mechanical stimuli. This methodology seeks to address the gap in approaches of measuring individual platelet stiffness without inadvertent platelet activation. 

Invention: The present invention is a minimal-contact method used to trap and measure the stiffness of platelets in relation to the whole cell. 

Applications:
·Hospital assessments (measuring cell stiffness)
·Forensic medicine (determining cause of disease/impairment/death)
·Biological research
·Cancer research
·Stem cell research
 

Advantages:
·Employs dielectrophoresis-mediated electrodeformation
·Facilitates further studies of mechanisms involved in mechanically-mediated platelet activation
·Measures the mechanical properties of adherent, anchorage-dependent cells and anchorage-independent suspended cells that have limited shear sensitivity
 

Background: Diabetic foot ulcers impact nearly 1 in 4 patients with diabetes. Over 50% of those who do develop foot ulcers requiring hospitalization at some point in their lives. Once infection sets in, amputation may be the only option for the patient's survival. Approximately 1 in 5 foot ulcers will require amputation, and over 80% of lower limb, non-traumatic amputations occur in patients with diabetes. Every year more than 82,000 amputations are performed on diabetics in the United States alone. Worldwide someone loses a limb to diabetes every 20 seconds. For diabetic patients the 5 year mortality rate after a limb amputation is 68%, second only to lung cancer. These staggering numbers necessitate the creation of ways to reduce, heal and prevent foot wounds, both in diabetic patients and in the general population. There is a clear need for a device that has the capacity to minimize weight bearing, monitor conditions that may impact healing, and allow for clinicians to have access to the wound.

Invention: This technology provides an orthopedic device that can measure different factors that could affect wound healing, such as physical stress and pressure, foot positioning, pH, blood flow, and skin temperature. All of these factors may assist in the stabilization and proper healing of ulcerative and/or post-operative conditions of the foot, especially for patients suffering from diabetic foot ulcers. 

Applications: This orthotic device seeks to maximize healing of ulcerative foot conditions and other wounds of the food. The device seeks to minimize weight bearing on certain areas of the foot as well as allow medical providers the ability to view the condition of the foot. This technology may improve a patient’s ability  to live an active lifestyle while allowing for proper healing for foot ulcerations and other foot wounds.

Advantages: One advantage of the current invention is that the proposed technology allows providers to adjust a patient’s treatment regime in response to clinical factors to improve wound healing. In addition, the boot features a window of observation for medical providers to monitor wound healing, and determine if medical removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue is needed to improve the healing of the remaining healthy tissue.

 

 

Background: Background: Impaired hearing is by some measures the number one disability in the world.Worldwide, it is estimated that 65 million people in the world’s industrialized countriesalone suffer from some type of hearing disability. The CDC estimates that 37.1 millionAmerican adults (16.0% of the population) suffer from hearing difficulties Additionally, it isestimated that roughly 500,000 children in the US suffer from some kind of hearing loss. Itis estimated that 44 million citizens of the European Union suffer from some kind of hearingdifficulty. Currently, there are no FDA-approved pharmacological treatments for hearingloss.

Invention: University of Arizona researchers have developed a high-throughput assay to beused as a drug development platform specifically for discovering new drugs for thetreatment of hearing disorders and hearing loss.

Applications: This high-throughput assay can be used to efficiently and rapidly discover both otoprotective and otoregenerative drugs (i.e. drugs that prevent or repair damage to auditory organs, thus protecting against hearing loss or treating it). It is also capable of detecting ototoxic compounds (i.e. compounds that may cause hearing loss e.g. cisplatin and other chemotherapy drugs). It can thus be used to not only develop new therapies to prevent or treat hearing loss, but also to detect ototoxic side effects in other drugs.  

Advantages:  The present invention is a novel, high-throughput platform for drug development against hearing loss. Unlike existing systems, enables both behavioral and anatomical assessment of drug candidates. It provides both physiologic and anatomical results, potentially accelerating recognition of otoprotective, otoregenerative, or ototoxic compounds while maintaining a high degree of accuracy and reliability.  

 

Background: With the shift toward new payment models and the sheer amount of clinicaldata contained in electronic health records, more and more healthcare groups are lookingto analytics solutions for population health management. Healthcare organizations candifferentiate themselves through data analytics. Factors such as federal healthcaremandates, wide scope of predictive analystics, and improvements in the financial andoperative function are driving the installation of healthcare data analysis in hospitals.

Invention: The invention includes systems and methods for collecting and analyzinghealthcare information to provide complete, automated health records for patients. Theanalytic system accepts a broad range of raw data which is translated into concepts usingknowledge-bases and then applied to electronic health records (EHR).

Applications:

·All healthcare fields requiring data collection

Advantages:

·Gathers and accepts a broad range of raw data, much of which is not currentlyrecorded/recordable by EHR systems or healthcare workers·Automatically generates concepts from raw data and records them to patient’s EHR

·Creates a complete image of a patient’s health

·Summarize current health and estimates healthcare costs

·Predicts future health events and estimates cost of future care·Can simulate in-person interactions and fill gaps in care that telepresence creates

·Improves ease, cost, and value of data collection

Background: The integrations of VR features into healthcare products and rising utilizationof digital data in patient care contributes to the establishment of a relatively stable market for VR applications in the U.S. healthcare industry.

Invention: The invention provides a virtual reality (VR) experience, including VR goggles and haptic feedback devices, for patients to explain the benefits of a medical treatment orthe consequences of non-compliance. The immersive experience seeks to have a greater impact on a patient’s behavior versus a discussion with a healthcare provider alone.  

Applications
·Hospitals 
·Separate “VR treatment centers” could be formed to allow many doctors and patients to make use of the system without investing in one directly (similar to a lab or testing center) 
·Sophisticated haptic feedback systems combined with VR could be used for VR training systems. Opportunities include surgical training and medical student supplemental education.
 

Advantages
·Improves compliance with a care plan and confidence in the given treatment 
·Reduces or eliminates the time required for doctors to discuss benefits/consequences of treatment while improving patient understanding 
·Simulates symptoms that are difficult or impossible to understand with language alone 
·Creates an accurate representation of disease/treatment information via patient data and knowledge-bases 
·Estimates cost difference between successful treatment and non-compliance via patient data and knowledge-bases
 

Background: Diabetic foot ulcers require a lot of monitoring for the wound healing process.Patients are asked to perform self-evaluations in between physician visits in order to keepan eye on high risk factors during the healing process. If high risk factors are found patientsmust then get into the doctor for treatment. This process leaves a lot of room forcomplications to present themselves with the patient between treatments.

Invention: The presented technology is a personalized orthotic that measures and adjustsfor high risk factors associated with wound healing of diabetic foot ulcers. The orthoticsenses pressure, temperature, blood flow, oxygen tension, pH levels, and sweat chloridelevels at the skin contact surface.

Applications:

•       Diabetic foot ulcer wound care

•       Chronic wound care

Advantages:

•       Point of care treatment

•       Immediate adjustment to aid in the wound healing process

•       Technology adjustable to various contact surfaces

Background: Pacemakers and other similar implantable medical devices suffer from theshortcoming of limited battery life. When the useful life of the batteries powering thesedevices has expired, surgical procedures are usually necessary to replace them. Like allsurgeries, these procedures involve undesirable risk to the patient, patient discomfort, andutilization of healthcare resources that could be put to other uses. Therefore reducing oreliminating the need for performing these replacement procedures is desirable.  

Invention: This system allows for the harvesting of the body’s mechanical energy (e.g. fromthe heart cycle of contraction-relaxation) and subsequent conversion into electrical energyusing piezeoelectric materials. The piezoelectric materials are monolithically integratedwith rectifiers and millimeter-scale batteries, allowing for concurrent power generation andstorage of harvested electrical energy. The components of this system are coated in abiocompatible material with superior mechanical properties that allow for a uninhibitedorgan motion while avoiding delamination of the system. These Mechanical EnergyHarvesting (MEH) units are arranged in the body with other, identical units in order toincrease the power generation capability of the entire system. Results from bovine andovine models indicate that such a system is easily capable of generating enough power tooperate a cardiac pacemaker.

Application: This invention is capable of being used to power not only pacemakers, but alsoother implantable microelectronic devices such as heart rate monitors, cardioverter-defibrilators, neurostimulators, etc. The market and number of potential applications forthis invention is expected to grow as advances in the field of implantable microelectronicdevices increase the prevalence and types of said devices. Additionally, this invention mayalso be adapted for skin-mounted configurations, capable of producing power for not onlyhealth and wellness devices, but potentially non-biomedical devices, eliminating orreducing the need to replace the batteries of these devices as well.

Advantages: This invention has been shown to be superior to the state of the art in in vivoexperiments in bovine and ovine models.

•Output open-circuit voltages and short-circuit currents are 3 and 5 orders of magnitudegreater, respectively, than those achieved in previous in vivo experiments

•Piezoelectric material monolithically integrated with rectifiers and millimeter scalebatteries for simultaneous power generation and storage.

•Results indicate power production levels that are easily enough to power a cardiacpacemaker.

•Utilizes biocompatible materials with superior mechanical properties; also inducesnegligible constraints on motion of organs on which it is implanted – no detectable changesin cardiac conduction/epicardial motion even when affixed to the epicardium in in vivoresults.

•Mechanically and electrically stable device behavior over 20 million cycles ofbending/unbending in moist hydrogel environment.

•Maintains conformal contact with the heart, without delamination of the device, during theentire cycle of cardiac motion (contraction to relaxation).

Background:  Currently, in artificial heart valves, chemically fixed animal tissue is used. While such tissue has numerous advantages in durability, it carries with it the costs of processing and implanting xenographs. Additionally, one problem with these grafts is that their durability highly depends on the age and condition of the patient. Thus, there exists a need for a highly durable, non-animal valve material which can be optimized for blood flow and will not need anti-rejection drugs to accompany its implantation. No polymer heart valve prosthesis has made it to commercialization to date, primarily due to inferior durability compared to chemically fixed animal tissue.  

Invention: This invention discloses a novel tri-leaflet polymeric prosthetic heart valve that can be used in open-heart or transcatheter valve implantation, in pulsatile ventricular assist devices (or other pulsatile mechanical circulatory support devices) or the Total ArtificialHeart (Syncardia ). The polymer utilized in this design is a new formulation that has notbeen previously applied to prosthetic heart valves, and has the potential for enhanced durability and hemo-compatibility  over chemically fixed animal tissue and competitive polymers. Additionally, the valve leaflet has been designed with a customized variable thickness for the reduction of high stress concentrations and maximized  flexibility.

Application: This product could one day be used as a gold standard in replacing animal tissues for use in heart valves and prosthetic hearts.

Advantages:This invention has been demonstrated to be superior to the state-of-the-art in (a) theory,(b) simulations, and (c) using real data. Our simulation results show orders of magnitude in improvement, as compared to traditional methods. Real results from data closely replicate the performance of our simulations. Proposed device is bio-stable and hemocompatable; eliminates the need for animal tissue sourcing, handling, processing, sterilization and packaging; eliminates any risks to patients involved in implanting xenografts; durability not dependent on the health and age of the patient.

Background: Fibrosis is the development of excess connective tissue due to the activation ofmyofibroblasts. It is a key process in the pathophysiology of conditions such as lung injuryand kidney disease. Members of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH)oxidase (NOX) family catalyze the formation of reactive oxygen species and ROS-formingenzyme, NOX4, and have shown to be a critical mediator of myofibroblast differentiation inlung injury, thereby supporting tissue fibrogenesis. This technology provides a series ofnovel NOX4-specific inhibitors for the therapeutic treatment of IPF and other fibroticdisorders.

Invention: This technology identifies a series of small molecule inhibitors of NOX4 for thetreatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)  and other fibrotic disorders. In particular,it provides methods, screening assays, and related absorption, distribution, metabolism,excretion (ADME) studies for the disclosed compounds. This invention explores theimpaired response to cellular oxidative stress as a core pathway to organ fibrosis.

Applications:

·Fulfills the market gap for anti-fibrotic drugs

·An "orphan disease" can be extremely attractive in the strategic development of moving adrug to market

·In addition to all other pharmacochemical properties the IC50 of the lead compounds iscomparable to the GKT NOX1/4 inhibitor in the low to sub micro molar range, implying that these compounds have great potential for clinical translation

Advantages:

·Addresses the unmet need for IPF drug therapies

·This is the first research group to identify NADPH oxidase NOX4 as a mediator ofmyofibroblast activation

·This is the first research group to validate the role of NADPH oxidase NOX4 in animalmodels of lung fibrosis

·Permeability, solubility, and metabolic stability proved favorable for in vitro ADME

·Targets oxidative stress responses in myofibroblasts

 

Background: Sepsis syndrome’s mortality rate is 26% to 82% depending on whether septicshock occurs. Currently there are no reliable diagnostic biomarkers available to predictsurvival of patients with sepsis. Furthermore, researchers at the University of Arizonaunderstand there is evidence indicating oxidative stress plays a role in the pathogenesis of sepsis.

Invention: The technology is a 21-gene reactive oxygen species (ROS)-associated molecularsignature that predicts survival in septic patients.  

Applications:·Diagnostic tool and/or service for patients with sepsis 

Advantages:

·Traditional biomarkers (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, procalcitonin) are not reliable inpredicting survival

·ROS-associated biomarkers were shown to predict the odds of patient's outcome 

Background: TAVI is a minimally invasive procedure to implant a prosthetic valve inpatients with aortic valve stenosis (AVS). Typical TAVI systems are no longer adjustableonce deployed. The present invention solves this hindrance with the inclusion of the threeimprovements mentioned above.

Invention: The invention is an improvement on current transcatheter aortic valveimplantation (TAVI) methods that allows the prosthetic valve to be steered into positionthrough the artery and adjusted once deployed.  This improvement on the first, and current,TAVI systems includes a hinged prosthetic, a cable system for adjusting the prosthetic in theartery, and handle that controls the adjustments with simple controls (i.e. buttons andtwisting sections).

Applications:

·Vascular procedures that include transcatheter stent placement

·Commercial medicine

Advantages:

·The prosthetic valve can be manipulated by wires to bend at a hinge

·Steering the distal end of the prosthetic makes for a more navigable path through the artery as it is pushed into place by the catheter

·Alternative to surgery for patients with AVS ·Increases the safety of the method

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, responsible for over 17 million deaths per year. At the beginning of the 20th century, cardiovascular disease was responsible for less than 10% of all deaths worldwide, but bythe start of the 21st century, CVD was responsible for about 30% of all deaths worldwide.  Anti-platelet drugs are often used to prevent and/or treat cardiovascular diseases, and these drugs are in high demand. Although oral and IV anti-platelet medications may prevent the formation of blood clots, blood platelets of patients with mechanical circulatory support devices are subject to higher levels of shear physical stress.This leads to a higher incidence of platelet activation and aggregation, which may lead to increased thrombosis.

Invention: This novel invention provides a method to limit the effects of shear stress fromMCS devices on the platelet cells of patients with congestive heart failure. The invention has been shown to reduce platelet activation and aggregation in vivo by mitigating the effects of shear stress by increasing platelet membrane fluidity

Application: Shear stress on platelets is common in patients with congestive heart failure who have been implanted with a MCS device. Although MCS devices can prolong life for patients who are awaiting a heart transplant, the pressure associated with these devices can cause platelet membrane fragmentation or disruption into the bloodstream, which may cause both local and distant blood clot formation. This can lead to both reduced MCS device flow functionality, as well as potential death of the patient due to reduced cardiac output, stroke, and/or heart attack. This invention can be applied to reduce or prevent thrombosis in this patient population.

Advantages: This invention offers a significant benefit to patients who need mechanical circulatory support devices. By preventing platelet activation and aggregation, this technology could allow clinicians to more confidently use MCS devices, including using the devices for a longer duration and/or at higher rates of pump functionality to maximize cardiac benefit and reduce the risk of thrombosis.

Background: Efforts to reduce costs in healthcare, avoid emergency room overcrowding,and preparation for a growing number of elderly patients in the years to come are a few ofthe drivers for the adoption of these systems. The demand to integrate data processingcapabilities and EMR transfer options have also fueled the market.

Invention: The invention tracks and monitors patients in a hospital or other healthcarefacilities to manage scheduling of tests and procedures based on health priority and cost.The system organizes an optimum schedule to reduce the duration of hospital stays for allpatients and ensures that each patient promptly receives the appropriate, time-sensitivecare.

Applications:

·Designed to work in a hospital and track a large number of patients

·Long-term care facilities

Advantages:

·Monitors subjective and objective criteria for hospital discharge for each patient

·Focuses on high patient turnover to save costs to patients and hospital·Optimizes hospital procedure schedule based on availability and patient need.

·Reduces idle time and avoids “extra days” that result from scheduling issues

·Generates clear user interface for hospital staff to observe the big-picture status of thehospital and its patients.

·Provides clear list of steps-to-discharge for each patient

·The larger the number of patients, the greater the potential benefit of the technology  

 

Materials and Methods for Endoluminal Electropolymeric Biodegradable Paving and Sealing

 

Summary

Background: The complications associated with current permanent implants such as coronary stents results from both the biocompatibility of the chosen material and the biocompatibility of the implant architecture, i.e. the inherent design deficiencies in the stenting devices. The stent is a foreign object (not native to the body), it incites an immune response which may cause scar tissue (cell proliferation) to rapidly grow over the stent. In addition, there is a strong tendency for clots to form at the site where the stent damages the arterial wall. Lastly, the size and/or structure of the stent may give rise to mechanical stability problems as the stent is much stiffer than the surrounding arteries. Therefore, there is a need in the current medical industry to provide materials and methods for forming smart biomedical implants on endoluminal surfaces without the need for invasive medical procedures, and which have the potential to biodegrade over the lifetime of the implant.

Invention: This invention seeks to address all of these problems, while also providing an integrated electric component so the implant can locally monitor and/or modify the function of an organ or organ component.

Application: A device for electropolymeric paving has been developed. This device includes a biocompatible implantable degradable polymeric material having integrated electrical properties useful for sensing or detecting one or more analytes, signals or conditions, transmitting or generating a signal, or releasing a therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic agent.

Advantages: This invention has been demonstrated to be superior to the state-of-the-art in (a) theory, (b) simulations, and © using real data. The inventors simulation results show orders of magnitude in improvement, as compared to traditional methods. Real results from test data closely replicate the performance of our simulations.

• Polymeric composition will reduce the risk of clotting at the site of the stent;

• Greatly reduced risk of scaring as the stent will not trigger an immune response;

• Method can be optimized to the imaged material or tissue of interest; ePEPS procedure provides for in situ formation of biologically compatible smart implants capable of altering, retarding, enhancing, or monitoring an organ component, an organ, or a physiological system.