CATHETER AND PERITONEUM HEALTH MONITORING
The invention relates to systems and methods for monitoring the long term health of the peritoneum and catheter in a patient undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD) treatment. The systems and methods include processors and sensors for determining changes in the peritoneum health or catheter of a PD patient to support analysis, replacement, and possible medical intervention. The method can include receiving a prior history of a patient; storing the prior history in a machine-readable storage medium, which when executed performs the steps of trending the one or more fluid parameters from the prior history; and determining a change in peritoneum health or catheter patency from the trended prior history. The system can include a peritoneal dialysis cycler having an infusion line and an effluent line; at least one sensor positioned in the infusion line, the effluent line, or combinations thereof; and a processor in communication with the sensor.
1 - 12 . (canceled)
13 . A system, comprising:
a peritoneal dialysis cycler comprising an infusion line and an effluent line, or a combined effluent and infusion line;
at least one sensor positioned in the infusion line, the effluent line, or combinations thereof; and
a processor in communication with the at least one sensor; the processor performing the method of claim 1 .
14 . The system of claim 13 , further comprising a detachable sampling reservoir fluidly connected to the effluent line or combined effluent and infusion line.
15 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the sensor includes at least one of a pressure sensor located in the infusion line or combined effluent and infusion line; a conductivity sensor positioned in the effluent line or combined effluent and infusion line; and/or a pH sensor positioned in the effluent line or combined effluent and infusion line.
16 . A sensor suite for monitoring catheter and/or peritoneum health, wherein the sensor suite comprises at least one of:
a) a pressure sensor measuring a pressure infusing peritoneal dialysate into a patient;
b) an ultrafiltrate sensor measuring a membrane transfer efficiency across a peritoneal membrane, wherein the ultrafiltrate sensor measures at least one of: (i) toxin transfer; or (ii) protein leakage;
c) a fluid flow sensor; or
d) a dialysate effluent sensor measuring at least one of (i) effluent color; (ii) effluent clarity; or (iii) effluent temperature.
17 . The sensor suite of claim 16 , further comprising at least one of a pH sensor or a conductivity sensor.
18 . The sensor suite of claim 16 , wherein the sensor suite comprises at least two sensors.
19 . The sensor suite of claim 16 , wherein at least one sensor is positioned in a peritoneal dialysis cycler.
20 . The sensor suite of claim 16 , wherein the sensor suite includes at least the fluid flow sensor and the pressure sensor.
21 . A sensor suite for dialysis performance and/or peritoneum health, comprising:
a group of sensors monitoring at least one of dialysis performance and/or peritoneum health condition selected from the group of inflammation, peritonitis, catheter obstruction for blockage of the catheter, peritoneal membrane health for transport status of the membrane, glucose concentration, total osmolality, and Kt/V for peritoneal dialysis, and/or hemodialysis, wherein the total osmolality is a sum of osmolalities of all solutes present in the peritoneal dialysis and wherein in Kt/V, K stands for dialyzer clearance of urea, t stands for dialysis time, and V stands for a volume of water the patient's body contains.
22 . The sensor suite of claim 21 , wherein the sensor suite is selected from the group of:
a) a pressure sensor measuring a pressure infusing a peritoneal dialysate into a patient;
b) an ultrafiltrate sensor measuring a membrane transfer efficiency across a peritoneal membrane, wherein the ultrafiltrate sensor measures at least one of: (i) toxin transfer; or (ii) protein leakage; and
c) a fluid flow sensor; or a dialysate effluent sensor measuring at least one of (i) effluent color; (ii) effluent clarity; or (iii) effluent temperature.
23 . The sensor suite of claim 21 , wherein dialysis performance Kt/V for peritoneal dialysis measures the conversion of urea to ammonia.
24 . The sensor suite of claim 23 , wherein dialysis performance Kt/V for peritoneal dialysis measures the conversion of urease to ammonia combined with the Kt/V measurement of residual kidney function.
25 . The sensor suite of claim 21 , further comprising one or more sensors monitoring dialysis performance via measuring catheter obstruction selected from the group of a flow rate sensor, pressure sensor, and an optical sensor.
26 . The sensor suite of claim 21 , further comprising one or more ultrafiltrate sensors monitoring peritoneum health measuring transport across the peritoneal membrane, Urea Reduction Ratio (URR) trending to determine changes in the URR over time, and urea trending to determine changes in urea over time in a peritoneal fluid.
27 . The sensor suite of claim 21 , further comprising one or more sensors monitoring peritoneum health selected from the group of a glucose sensor and a sensor measuring refractive index changes of dextrose in a peritoneal fluid.
28 . The sensor suite of claim 21 , further comprising one or more osmolality sensor monitoring peritoneum health selected from the group of a refractive index sensor, boiling point elevation, and freezing point depression.
29 . The sensor suite of claim 21 , further comprising one or more infection sensor monitoring peritoneum health selected from the group of a pH sensor, a color sensor, a clarity sensor, a temperature sensor, a bacterial concentration test, and a white cell concentration test.
30 . The sensor suite of claim 21 , further comprising one or more peritonitis sensor monitoring peritoneum health selected from the group of a pH sensor, a color sensor, a clarity sensor, a temperature sensor, a bacterial concentration test, and a white cell concentration test.