Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2020-2021)

Every day, patients admitted to critical care units are experiencing complications and oftenx000D
fatal deteriorating conditions. Severe complications leading to the syndrome of multiple organx000D
dysfunctions or MODS result in a mortality rate at 41%. The MODS condition is characterizedx000D
by a severe acute inflammatory reaction leading to vascular thrombosis, septic shock andx000D
impaired oxygenation of organs and tissues. Inflammatory blood markers can be prescribedx000D
for patient monitoring but results are obtained hours or days after sampling. In conditionsx000D
where rapid medical decisions are required to improve the likelihood of patient survival, thosex000D
blood tests are often of no value. We propose in this grant application a new bed sidex000D
ultrasound technology to continuously monitor the state of inflammation for optimum patientx000D
treatment.x000D
Red blood cell (RBC) aggregation is a strong marker of inflammation and has the uniquex000D
advantage of offering continuous monitoring capability through ultrasound imaging. This grantx000D
proposes the development and integration of technologies to provide point-of-care patientx000D
monitoring based on the analysis of high-frequency ultrasound spectral data to measure thex000D
time-varying clustering of RBCs flowing within a superficial vein of the arm or ankle.x000D
Preclinical results in a porcine model confirmed the capability of monitoring inflammationpromotedx000D
aggregation of RBCs with ultrasound. The proposed algorithm is patented and wex000D
propose the development of a portable instrument for use in restricted areas as surgeryx000D
rooms and intensive care units. This instrument will consist in a bracelet attached innocuouslyx000D
to the patient and embedding high-frequency ultrasound transducers, an occluding device tox000D
control the blood flow, and a positioning device to collect ultrasound data processed by ax000D
miniaturized computer instrument to provide feedback to clinicians on the state of RBCx000D
aggregation.