Blood Cassette Venting for Pathogen Cell Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current treatments for bacteremia, such as antibiotics, are often ineffective in reducing the count of pathogenic cells in the bloodstream, leading to severe conditions like sepsis.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus that identifies and locates pathogen cells in blood using imaging and venting them to a sump, repeatedly processing multiple blood quantities over time to decrease their count.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If antibiotics are used to treat bacteremia, then the treatment is applied to kill pathogenic cells, but the treatment is not successful for many patients with bloodstream infection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes pathogenic cells from the bloodstream using a mechanical filtration system. The blood is circulated through a cartridge containing filter media that physically captures pathogenic cells, separating them from healthy blood components. This extraction approach directly reduces pathogen load without relying on antibiotic mechanisms that have failed for many patients.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary filtration system between the patient's bloodstream and the external environment. The cartridge with filter media acts as a mediator that intercepts and removes pathogenic cells from the circulating blood, providing a bridge between the infected system and a pathogen-free state without requiring direct chemical intervention.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a filtration system is used to remove pathogen cells from blood, then the number of pathogenic cells is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the blood processing function into a separate, removable cartridge that can be easily attached and detached from the blood circulation system. This modular design isolates the complex filtration mechanism within a self-contained unit, simplifying the overall system architecture and enabling easy replacement or maintenance of the filtration component without affecting the entire apparatus.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent designs the filtration cartridge to perform multiple functions: filtering pathogenic cells, allowing plasma and blood cells to pass through, and enabling repeated use or replacement. The universal design of the cartridge interface and filter media allows the same basic structure to handle different blood flow rates and pathogen types, reducing the need for multiple specialized components.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for locating and venting pathogen cells in blood. A cassette has a plurality of thin holding chambers that are filled with blood drawn from a patient. A light source illuminates each of the holding chambers and passes light to an underlying sensor array such that the cells in the blood produce shadow images of the cells in the sensor array. A processor performs pattern recognition to identify and locate the pathogen cells by use of an image library. After the pathogen cells are located, a pump is operated to move the identified cells to a processing zone. When each identified cell reaches the processing zone, a control voltage is generated to open a valve to vent the identified pathogen cells. The pump refills the cassette holding chambers, returns the processed blood to the patient, and the procedure is repeated for a treatment time period.