Development of Novel Filtration Technologies for Hyperphosphatemia (2013)

Undergraduate: Leena Patel

Faculty Advisor: Melanie Joy
Department: Business Administration

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Excessively high levels of blood phosphate is associated with morbidity and mortality. Approximately 90% of hemodialysis patients have elevated blood phosphate levels, and 50% of these patients have unacceptably high levels of blood phosphate. Patients accumulate phosphate through diet and protein intake. Reducing protein intake would lead to an increased death risk; therefore, blood phosphate levels should be controlled through oral phosphate-binding drugs or blood dialysis.

Oral phosphate-binding drugs have a finite biding capacity, poor patient compliance, and undesirable side effects. Therefore, blood phosphate is preferably removed through dialysis. Currently hemodialysis only use simple diffusion for phosphate removal and therefore, does not have the capacity to remove adequate amounts (450mg/session) of phosphate.

This study aims to develop a marketable novel hemoadsorption device that can be incorporated into the hemodialysis circuit to remove blood phosphate using an additional adsorption mechanism. This study develops a process to bind two selective phosphate adsorption compounds to blood filtration fabrics and a prototype hemoadsorption device that can be incorporated into existing dialysis circuits. The study ultimately seeks to recommends a marketable device with the most effective medical filtration fabric treatment for optimal selective blood phosphate adsorption.