Quantifying Glomerular Filtration Rates: Kidney Function Analysis Method and Apparatus
Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) remains a vexing clinical problem resulting in unacceptably high patient mortality, development of chronic kidney disease and accelerated progression to end stage kidney disease. Although clinical risks factors for developing AKI have been identified, there
is no reasonable surveillance technique (“biomarker”) to definitively and rapidly diagnose and determine the extent of severity of AKI in any patient. Since patient outcomes correlate with the extent of injury, and effective therapy requires early intervention, the ability to rapidly
diagnose and stratify patients by their level of kidney injury is paramount for clinical progress in this field. Therefore, FAST BioMedical is developing and characterizing an optical measurement technique utilizing a novel minimally invasive Ratiometric Fluorescence Device (RFD) that can
rapidly, accurately, and repetitively quantify kidney function, the measured glomerular filtration rate (mGFR), independent of serum or urinary measurements. A sub-millimeter optical fiber, that delivers excitation light and collects fluorescent emissions, is inserted into a peripheral or
central venous access via commercial intravenous catheters. A mixture of two fluorescent dextrans of different sizes and distinct fluorophores, a small freely kidney filterable “reporter” molecule and large non-filterable plasma volume “marker” molecules, is infused
as a bolus, excited sequentially by light-emitting diodes, and in vivo signals detected and quantified by photomultiplier tubes. The patented quantitative ratiometric technique, by utilizing two fluorescent reporter molecules, minimizes the inherent limitations of intensity fluorescence determinations
and allows for rapid and accurate determinations of mGFR and plasma volume. Utilization of plasma fluorescent detection allows for the use of a two compartment model thus markedly minimizing the time needed for measuring GFR by eliminating extracellular space distribution of the filterable
molecule.
Keywords: Acute kidney injury; Fluorescence Tissue Imaging; Fluorescent Detector; GFR Determination; GFR Technique; Kidney Function Analysis; Plasma Clearance; Ratiometric Fluorescence Analysis; Serum Creatinine; exracellular fluid volume; glomerular filtration rate; kidney biomarker; kidney function
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 September 2012
- Recent Patents on Biomarkers publishes review and research articles, and guest edited thematic issues on important recent patents on biomarkers. The coverage includes novel biomarkers in basic, medical, environmental, and pharmaceutical research. A selection of important and recent patents on biomarkers is also included in the journal. The journal is essential reading for all researchers involved in biomarker research and discovery. The journal also covers recent research (where patents have been registered) in fast emerging patent biomarker applications; discovery and validation are covered for drug discovery, clinical development and molecular diagnostics.
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