A silicon nanopore membrane blood filter enabling anticoagulant free continuous renal replacement therapy for acute kidney injury

Project Summary Acute Kidney InjuryAKIcommonly occurs in critically ill patients in the ICUPatients with severe AKI often require continuous renal replacement therapyCRRTbecause it enables hemodynamic stability and better volume controlAnticoagulation therapy is frequently used to keep the CRRT circuitespecially the blood filterfrom clotting as many critically ill patients are prothromboticand or when CRRT is commonly performed for multiple daysHowever both systemic heparin and regional citrate anticoagulation therapy are associated with higher costsincreased circuit complexityand complicationsConsequently a blood filter that operates clot free with little to no anticoagulation for extended periods will eliminate the costscomplexityand complications of administering anticoagulation therapyreduce blood lossreduce the cost of CRRT due to filter clotting and replacementand reduce the risk of not delivering an adequate dialytic dose to the critically ill AKI patientWe propose to develop an anticoagulant free blood filter for extended extracorporeal applications using ultra highflux and blood compatible silicon nanopore membranesIn the Phase I SBIR projectwe will characterize membrane clearance characteristics and optimize the blood flow path of the filter Project Narrative OverAcute Kidney InjuryAKIpatients receive renal replacement therapy in the US each yearWe are developing a new blood filter with that will operate for multiple days without anticoagulationThe use of the new blood filter will improve AKI patient outcomes while reducing the complexitycostsand complications