Continuous Urine Flow Measurements

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is a common complication (occurrence 20% - 30%) in critically ill patients in the ICU. As this significantly increases patient mortality and the risk of chronic kidney disease, early detection and correct diagnosis is a comprehensive topic in medical research and development.

Previous methods diagnose ANV on the basis of laboratory values, such as the changing serum creatinine concentration. However, it has been shown that the amount of urine produced can be more accurate than biochemical markers.

A drop in urine excretion below 0.5 ml per kilogram body weight over a period of more than six hours is a first sign of an increased risk of kidney failure. In order to be able to determine the urine volume of the patient, the nursing staff must measure manually at regular intervals. An automatic measurement would thus mean enormous relief for the staff and a more reliable diagnosis of ANV.

The single-use flow sensor LD20 from Sensirion solves this problem by automatically recording important measurement data and vital parameters and storing them in the electronic patient data management system (PDMS). This eliminates the need for time-consuming and inaccurate manual patient records. In addition, the timely detection of undesired effects is possible and the data is easily available for later analysis. The single-use flow sensor revolutionizes many well-known medical applications and also enables completely new applications.

Read the complete specialist article here.