Dr. Jacobo Paredes
Department of Bioengineering, UC Berkeley
BSAC Postdoctoral Researcher
March 12, 2013 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room
Host: Dorian Liepmann
Central venous catheters (CVC) are commonly used in clinical practice to improve a patient's quality of life. Unfortunately, there is an intrinsic risk of acquiring an infection related to microbial biofilm formation inside the catheter lumen. It has been estimated that 80% of all human bacterial infections are biofilm-associated. Additionally, 50% of all nosocomial infections are associated with indwelling devices. This work presents a new design of a venous access port that allows the monitoring of the inner reservoir surface by means of an impedimetric biosensor. An ad-hoc electronic system was designed to manage the sensor and to allow communication with the external receiver. Historic data recorded and stored in the device was used as the reference value for the detection of bacterial biofilm. The RF communication system sends an alarm signal to the external receiver when a microbial colonization of the port occurs. The successful in vitro analysis of the biosensor, the electronics and the antenna of the new indwelling device prototype are shown. The experimental conditions were selected in each case as the closest to the clinical working conditions for the smart central venous catheter (SCVC) testing. The results of this work allow a new generation of this kind of device that could potentially provide more efficient treatments for catheter-related infections.
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