Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects

At least 10% of the Canadian population (>3.5 million Canadians) will develop a kidney stonein their life, resulting in significant patient morbidity and burden on the healthcare system. Thisproblem is further deteriorated as ~50% of the patients will have a repeat episode within 5years. Most patients are treated by placing a ureteral stent, a thin hollow plastic tube, in theureter (the duct that bridges the kidney to the bladder) to ensure proper urine drainage pastthe stone that may be blocking it. Ureteral stents are also used in cancer patients to maintainurine flow through the ureter that may be compressed by growing tumor. The stent itself,however, often causes an obstruction in the urine flow, by limiting the ureters wave-likemotion to push urine down to the bladder and/or by building up crystals on the stent. In suchcase, the kidney swells, a condition known as hydronephrosis, which results in kidney injuryand eventual failure if left untreated. This research will develop a novel smart ureteral stentthat will continuously track renal pressure while it is indwelling, uniquely allowing for earlydetection of increased pressure before damaging hydronephrosis develops. This will enablenon-invasive, quantitative, and cost-effective tracking that is currently not available via anyexisting diagnostic route. The stents will be developed to function as radiofrequencyantennas, with embedded micro pressure sensors and microelectronic chips to wirelesslysense and transmit renal pressure. The device will be prototyped using microsystemstechnology available at UBC. This novel stent technology will allow kidney stone patients tocheck the status using a portable monitor at home, giving an alarm for the need of furtherdiagnosis and necessary treatment by urologists. The research results are anticipated topromote different types of stents and other implants to acquire perceptual features for a widerange of medical applications beyond the urologic area.