Calcium Trap for Anticoagulant-Free Dialysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for preventing blood clotting in extracorporeal blood treatment systems, such as dialysis, often rely on anticoagulants like heparin or regional citrate anticoagulation, which have undesirable side effects and require labor-intensive monitoring, and are not suitable for all patients, particularly those with liver disease or at risk of bleeding.
Innovation Solution
An extracorporeal blood treatment system incorporating a calcium trap with a substrate immobilized with species like alginate or EDTA to reduce calcium levels in the blood, preventing clotting without introducing anticoagulants, and a method involving a dialyzer and calcium infusion to maintain intradialytic calcium balance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If anticoagulants like heparin are administered to prevent blood clotting in extracorporeal blood treatment systems, then blood clotting is prevented, but patients experience undesirable side effects such as excessive bleeding, allergy, and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful anticoagulants from the blood treatment system by using a calcium trap that selectively removes ionized calcium from the blood. This eliminates the need for heparin or other anticoagulants, thereby preventing blood clotting without exposing patients to their harmful side effects such as excessive bleeding, allergy, and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the biochemical parameter of ionized calcium concentration in the blood by using a calcium trap to reduce iCa levels. This parameter change prevents blood clotting through natural physiological mechanisms rather than through anticoagulant drugs, thus avoiding the harmful effects associated with anticoagulant administration
2Reliability
If regional citrate anticoagulation is used to prevent blood clotting, then clotting is prevented in the extracorporeal circuit, but patients with liver disease experience adverse effects due to diminished ability to process citrate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts citrate from the system by using a calcium trap that binds ionized calcium directly in the blood without introducing citrate. This eliminates the metabolic burden on the liver, making the system suitable for patients with liver disease who cannot process citrate-calcium complexes effectively
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a calcium trap as an intermediary device that mediates between the blood and the need for calcium removal. Instead of using citrate as the intermediary (which requires liver processing), the calcium trap directly binds and removes ionized calcium, providing a safer alternative for patients with compromised liver function
3Measurement precision
If repetitive blood draws and iCa measurements are performed to monitor systemic calcium levels during regional citrate anticoagulation, then calcium balance is maintained, but the process becomes labor- and material-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The calcium trap system is self-regulating and does not require external monitoring of systemic calcium levels. The calcium trap automatically binds excess ionized calcium in the blood as it passes through the device, eliminating the need for repetitive blood draws and laboratory measurements, thereby reducing labor and material requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides inherent feedback through the calcium trap's selective binding capacity. As blood flows through the calcium trap, the device automatically adjusts calcium removal based on the blood's calcium content, providing real-time regulation without external monitoring intervention
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively reduces blood clotting in extracorporeal systems without anticoagulants, minimizing risks of occlusion and adverse health effects, while allowing for precise calcium balance management.
Implementation Method 1
a calcium trap comprising a substrate having an immobilized species, the species being adapted to reduce the calcium concentration in the blood
Implementation Method 2
Blood passes from the patient through a dialyzer separated by a semi-permeable membrane from a large volume of externally-supplied dialysis solution
Data Source
AI summary
An extracorporeal blood treatment system includes means for withdrawing blood from a patient, and means for transporting the blood through a calcium trap. The calcium trap includes a substrate having an immobilized species, the species being adapted to reduce the calcium concentration in the blood to a concentration that prevents blood clotting in the extracorporeal blood treatment system, thereby producing calcium-depleted blood. The extracorporeal blood treatment system also includes means for treating the calcium-depleted blood downstream of the calcium trap by an extracorporeal blood treatment device, thereby producing treated calcium-depleted blood, means for infusing calcium into the treated calcium-depleted blood downstream of the extracorporeal blood treatment device to add calcium to the treated calcium-depleted blood, and means for returning treated blood back to the patient.