POINT OF CARE URINE ANALYZER

• US 20170035342A1
• Filed: 08/04/2016
• Published: 02/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Art Healthcare Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Art Healthcare Ltd.
• Inventors: ELIA, Liron, IDDAN, Gavriel J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,638,966 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0295 Strip shaped analyte sensors for apparatus classified in A61B5/145 or A61B5/157 disposable multilayered or laminated electrodes G01N27/307; details of handling chemical test elements G01N33/4875
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14507 specially adapted for measuring characteristics of body fluids other than blood devices for taking samples of body liquids A61B10/0045
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1455 using optical sensors, e.g. spectral photometrical oximeters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1468 using chemical or electrochemical methods, e.g. by polarographic means A61B5/1486 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/201 Assessing renal or kidney functions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/208 adapted to determine urine quantity, e.g. flow, volume
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/412 Detecting or monitoring sepsis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 25/0017 specially adapted for long-term hygiene care, e.g. urethral or indwelling catheters to prevent infections
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/28 Investigating the spectrum using colour filters G01J3/51
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/052 Tubular type; cavity type; multireflective
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/8564 Sample as drops

Abstract

There is provided a urine analysis device for bed side monitoring of a patient, comprising: an inlet sized and shaped for fluid communication with a urine collecting tube that receives urine from a patient; a drip chamber through which the urine flows towards an outlet; at least one sensor that analyzes each drop of urine and estimates a respective volume of each drop; a timing element that measures a reference time for each drop; a program store storing code; and at least one processing unit coupled to the program store for implementing the stored code, the code comprising: code to calculate a urine output flow rate of the urine output flowing through the chamber according to the estimated volume of each drop of the urine and the reference time for each drop; and code to output the urine output flow rate.

Claims

1. A urine analysis device for bed side monitoring of a patient, comprising:

an inlet sized and shaped for fluid communication with a urine collecting tube that receives urine from a patient;

a drip chamber through which the urine flows towards an outlet;

at least one sensor that analyzes each drop of urine and estimates a respective volume of each drop;

a timing element that measures a reference time for each drop;

a program store storing code; and

at least one processing unit coupled to the program store for implementing the stored code, the code comprising;

code to calculate a urine output flow rate of the urine output flowing through the chamber according to the estimated volume of each drop of the urine and the reference time for each drop; and

code to output the urine output flow rate.

2. The urine analysis device of claim 1, further comprising code to identify a trend in the urine output flow rate indicative of a decrease or increase in the urine output flow rate and to present an indication of the trend on a graphical user interface (GUI) presented on a display.

3. The urine analysis device of claim 1, further comprising code to identify a trend in the urine output flow rate indicative of acute kidney injury (AKI) and to present an indication of the detected AKI on the GUI.

4. The urine analysis device of claim 2, further comprising code to generate an alert when an analysis of the trend is predictive of a future urine flow rate value falling outside of a predefine tolerance range.

5. The urine analysis device of claim 1, wherein the code includes instructions to calculate an instantaneous urine output flow rate, and present the instantaneous urine output flow rate on the GUI.

6. The urine analysis device of claim 1, further comprising an interface to a display, and code that instructions a presentation of a graphical user interface (GUI) on the display that includes the measured urine output flow rate and an identified trend in the urine output flow rate.

7. The urine analysis device of claim 1, wherein the sensors analyzes urine flowing within the drip chamber, prior to the flowing urine entering a urine collection bag in fluid communication with the outlet.

8. The urine analysis device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a fast gated camera that is activated by a photo detector disposed above the camera to capture at least one image of each drop, and further comprising code to estimate the volume of each drop according to an analysis of the at least one image of the drop.

9. The urine analysis device of claim 1, wherein the code comprising code instructions to calculate a type of content of the drop by combining a plurality of time sequentially ordered calculated values of widths of the drop and a plurality of time sequentially ordered values of widths of a plurality of exemplary drops, the plurality of exemplary drops comprising of different content types of liquid, wherein a respective drop is calculated to be of a one of a plurality of the types of liquid.

10. The urine analysis device of claim 1, wherein the drip chamber is transparent, and wherein the sensor comprises an optical sensor for estimating the volume of the urine drop through the walls of the transparent drip chamber.

11. A urine analysis device for bed side monitoring of a patient, comprising:

an inlet sized and shaped for fluid communication with a urine collecting tube that receives urine from a patient;

a drip chamber through which the urine flows towards an outlet;

a plurality of constituent measuring elements positioned within the drip chamber below the inlet to contact drops of urine received from the patient, the constituent measuring elements arranged on a rotating element that turns a predefined amount at a predefined time interval to expose another of the constituent measuring elements to a new drop of urine, wherein each of the constituent measuring elements estimates a concentration of a different urine constituent in respective drops of urine; and

at least one sensor coupled to the constituent measuring elements to output a constituent signal indicative of a measurement of the respective urine constituent by the respective measuring element.

12. The urine analysis device of claim 11, further comprising:

a program store storing code; and

at least one processing unit coupled to the program store for implementing the stored code, the code comprising;

code to analyze the constituent signal for each respective urine constituent to calculate at least one of a concentration and the presence of the respective urine constituent; and

code to output the at least one of concentration and presence of each respective urine constituent.

13. The urine analysis device of claim 11, wherein the constituent measuring elements and the at least one sensor comprise respective lab-on-chips each designed to estimate at least one of a concentration and a presence of a respective urine constituent.

14. The urine analysis device of claim 11, wherein each of the constituent measuring elements includes an impregnated strip media that changes to a different color according to the concentration of the respective constituent, and wherein the at least one sensor comprises a color camera arranged to sense the changed color of each respective constituent measuring element on the rotating element at each turn and output and outputs a signal indicative of the sensed changed color, and code instructions that analyze the signal to calculate the concentration of the respective constituent corresponding to the sensed changed color.

15. The urine analysis device of claim 11, wherein the constituent signal is generated based on an analysis conducted in urine flowing within the drip chamber, prior to the flowing urine entering a urine collection bag in fluid communication with the outlet.

16. The urine analysis device of claim 11, further comprising a sensor that detect the drops and outputs a signal to trigger the rotation of the rotating element.

17. A urine analysis device for bed side monitoring of a patient, comprising:

an inlet sized and shaped for fluid communication with a urine collecting tube that receives urine from a patient;

a drip chamber through which the urine flows towards an outlet;

a light source that creates a light directed to pass through at least one drop of the urine of the patient;

a dispersion element receives the light that passed through the at least drop of the urine and outputs a light spectrum;

a multi element detector that receives the light spectrum on a plurality of light detector elements and output a signal indicative of the intensity of the received light spectrum as a function of the wavelength of light according to the respective light detector elements;

a program store storing code; and

at least one processing unit coupled to the program store for implementing the stored code, the code comprising;

code to analyze the signal and calculate a value of at least one urine constituent; and

code to output the value of the at least one urine constituent.

18. The urine analysis device of claim 17, wherein the light source is a sweeping source, wherein the spectral dispersion element splits the light source to a first portion that is reflected at least by the urine and directed to a sub-set of elements of the multi element detector and a second portion that passes through the urine and directed to another detector having a single detector, wherein the light source is swept as a function of time, and code instructions to calculate an osmolarity of the urine according to an analysis of the signals outputted by the multi element detector and the another detector.

19. The urine analysis device of claim 17, further comprising an interferometer that includes a tunable source of the light source capable of emitting a range of wavelengths, a beam splitter that splits the light emitted by the light source to a reference path and a path through the urine, and a mechanism to combine the reference path light and the light of the path through the urine into a combined spectral signal, and further comprising code instructions to analyze the combined spectral signal to calculate concentration of at least one urine constituent.

20. The urine analysis device of claim 19, further comprising a transparent chamber positioned within the drip chamber and arranged to be constantly maintained in a urine filled state, wherein the light of the path through the urine is directed through the transparent chamber.