People with kidneys that do not function properly often need hemodialysis: a process in which a machine mimics the function of the kidney. This is a major intervention that requires a high supply of blood to the arm. This often involves an unnatural connection between the vein and the artery – which has many consequences. Nick White and Joris Rotmans of LUMC/TU Delft spin-off XS Innovations have developed a mechanical valve that regulates blood flow in kidney patients to improve their quality of life.
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Joris is involved in XS Innovations as a nephrologist at LUMC. He paints a picture of the problem they are working on solving. “With chronic kidney failure, you have two options. The first is a kidney transplant, a treatment limited by a shortage of donor kidneys. The second option is dialysis. Globally, there are 3 million hemodialysis patients. Hemodialysis is a process of purifying blood outside the body by means of an artificial kidney and has been used for nearly 80 years. However, vessel access is still a huge bottleneck. A permanent shunt, meaning a connection between the artery and the vein, is created, increasing blood flow to the arm. This is useful for dialysis, but the vein is not made for this. As so much more blood than usual constantly flows through, the vessels may break, expand, or contract to try to normalize the flow. As a result, patients need an average of one and a half interventions per year to keep the system working. Without dialysis, these patients don’t have a long life expectancy. It’s a hugely invasive system, whereas you only need the higher blood supply during dialysis. We introduced this problem to TU Delft about five years ago, where Nick started working on it during his master’s.”
Incredible health benefits
Due to its great potential, Nick is devoting his PhD to the further development of the project. He explains: “We have developed an implantable mechanical valve that is placed around the shunt so that we can regulate blood flow. After all, the higher flow is only needed during dialysis. After dialysis, you can close the valve and normalize circulation, which should provide great health benefits for the patients. It is not only less stressful for the veins, but also for the heart as it does not have to constantly pump as much blood around. As a result, patients experience less fatigue and heart failure. We can improve the quality of life and possibly even extend the lifespan of kidney patients. In addition, we can lower the costs per patient because our solution is completely mechanical and has no expensive or complicated components. That’s of course great for society, but at the top of my list is the impact we can have on people’s lives.”
More to come
The TTT MedTech voucher has allowed them to take an important step in their preclinical research. Joris: “The voucher has allowed us to pay for two animal studies which have provided us with a huge amount of data. It also helped us move toward funding such as Take-Off 1, and the business support has increased our chances of progressing. We are currently testing our prototype on goats, with promising results. Meanwhile, we are also continuously fine-tuning our device. Ultimately, we hope to launch the device in about five years and be the gold standard in 10 years. But to get there, the collaboration between LUMC and TU Delft is crucial.” Nick adds: “The collaboration is also incredibly inspiring. Our interaction is necessary to find answers to the questions of the future. It’s incredible to witness TTT encourage that.”