Continuous BP monitor for dialysis applications

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The need for the continuous monitoring of blood pressure in patients undergoing dialysis is steadily increasing. While the population undergoing dialysis, presently at about 400k in the US, is growing along with the global growth in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, the general health of the dialysis population is declining as increasingly sicker patients undergo the very invasive procedure. In response ETC proposes to develop and test a wireless wrist-worn continuous blood pressure monitor that will permit the centralized monitoring of patients undergoing dialysis. The device is non-occlusive and utilizes a novel physical model of the radial pulse to determine BP via pulse analysis. The compact design of the device makes patient mobility and wireless connectivity possible. The device's effectiveness in comparison to gold standards will be tested in a clinical study involving 95 normotensive subjects as well as dialysis and kidney transplant patients.