Ultrasonic backscattering coefficient as a marker of inflammatory response

Health care, Life sciences

UNMET NEED

Despite the effectiveness of current treatments, hemodialysis patients often have a lifespan similar to advanced stage cancer patients. This is mainly due to their high vulnerability and propensity to develop severe and life-threatening infections that require frequent hospitalizations.

Studies have shown that mortality from severe infections is at least 82 times higher in hemodialyzed patients as compared to the general population. This increased risk is explained by the frequent and repetitive use of vascular access required for their essential hemodialysis treatments.

At the present, there is no effective systemic screening test for infection during dialysis treatment. Blood tests to monitor inflammatory markers could be useful to detect infections but they are punctual assessments (every 4 to 6 weeks in dialysis units), timely and do not allow for early detection.

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW

Professor Guy Cloutier and his team have designed an apparatus and a method to monitor the erythrocyte aggregation using ultrasound. The erythrocyte aggregation is a normal phenomenon that is amplified during an inflammatory response. The proposed non-invasive system that is compatible with current dialysis apparatus could be used to monitor erythrocyte aggregation, detect abnormal inflammation, and enable early detection of infection in dialysis patients.

In vivo study with 10 pigs under extra-corporeal circulation confirmed that the technology allows to follow the evolution of aggregation over time and demonstrated the correlation with blood markers (non-invasive measurements taken on the paw). The evaluation of the feasibility of the method on human subjects was completed in a pilot clinical study in 2020.

The final validation of this innovative and non-invasive approach to detect and prevent life threatening infections is presently being performed with dialysis patients at the CHUM.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

Non-invasive monitoring
Real-time assessment
Compatible and no impact on dialysis workflow
Fast turnover results
Early detection

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Technology available for in-licensing
Seeking for industrial co-development partner
Seeking for research partnering
Eligibility to government financing for industry/academic maturation program

MARKET APPLICATIONS

Dialysis
Infection monitoring

IP PROTECTION

Two families of patents
US – FR – GB granted patents

PUBLICATIONS

CONTACTS

Guy Cloutier

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Director, Laboratory of Biorheology and Medical Ultrasonics

Benoit Doré

CONTACT
Director, Business Development
C 438-494-3961
benoit.dore@axelys.ca