Catalyst Awardee

Project Description

The Development Of Instantaneous Heating and Flow Monitoring Device For Peritoneal Dialysis

Jie Dong, PhD; Chi Liu, BA | Peking University First Hospital
Competition Sponsor: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
Award year: 2021

As the older population continues to grow, China has seen rising prevalence of chronic kidney disease. According to China’s renal disease data registry, more than 800,000 people have received dialysis treatment by the end of 2020, with the annual cost exceeding 50 billion. Administered at home, peritoneal dialysis (PD) is simple and effective, with a survival rate comparable to that with hemodialysis. However, PD mainly relies on a manual procedure during which patients warm dialysate, weigh dialysate, and finally calculate the ultrafiltration volume manually. This complex procedure takes nearly one hour per session, totaling four hours a day, greatly limiting the time and scope of patient’s activities and impairing their quality of life.
At present, automated peritoneal dialyzers are generally used worldwide to address the problems of peritoneal dialysate heating and flow monitoring. However, the dialysis tubing is connected to the patient’s body during treatment, which restricts their activities and travels; The equipment is large in size and not easy to carry; The costs of equipment and consumables are high, making it difficult to expand the use to a wider population.
Therefore, we intend to work with the team of Peking University School of Information Science and Technology to develop equipment with real-time heating and flow monitoring for PD to eliminate the steps of heating dialysate and manual weighing by patients, thereby saving patients 40 minutes for each dialysis operation. This will help patients maintain normal social function and improve their quality of life.

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