There are more than one million hospitalizations each year for ACHF. With more than 15 million patients with heart failure around the world, it is a remarkable that there is only one pharmacotherapy therapy for ACHF, injectable diuretics (most patients are already taking oral diuretics). This therapy works well on about half of patients, but is complicated by the presence of renal dysfunction, diuretic resistance, or liver dysfunction in almost 50% of patients. Rehospitalization, long hospital stays, and major adverse events are common in this latter group of patients, who deserve an alternative.
ACHF hospitalizations are the most costly single diagnosis for Medicare! It is the second most common reason for hospitalization, second only to giving birth to babies! Let’s help these patients!
The purpose of this project is to evaluate, prototype, test two options for the treatment of diuretic resistant patients in ACHF. Students will quantify, investigate, and test the market hypothesis, as well as quantify the cost and outcomes of diuretic resistant versus diuretic responsive patients. Students will create benchtop functional prototypes for the evaluation of two competing options for this therapy.
Project Mentor:
Engineering Mentor: Stanton Rowe, CEO and Cofounder of NXT Biomedical, srowe@nxtbiomedical.com
Physician Mentor: To Be Announced once team is assigned
Team:
| Member Last Name | Member First Name | Lead? | Email (@uci.edu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cortez | Jennifer | jcortez5 | |
| Dehdashtian | Brandon Sina | Yes | bdehdash |
| Holmes | Michael Scot | msholmes | |
| Islas | Alejandro De Jesus | adislas | |
| Waikar | Sohum Surendra | swaikar |