Description:
Medical Device Implant to Prevent Lymphatic Congestions
Market Need
Patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) develop poor lymphatic production and drainage. As a result, patients develop tissue edema and liver enlargement. In patients with CHF, poor lymphatic drainage is due to a decrease lymphatic outflow due to central venous pressure elevation. Currently, there are two treatments for poor lymphatic drainage. One is external decompression, which has shown improvements but require clinical visits. The other form of treatment is external drainage of lymphatic fluid from the thoracic duct. Unfortunately, this treatment is invasive and leads to metabolic and fluid imbalances.
Technology Overview
Drs. Yoav Dori and Maxim Itkin developed an implantable lymphatic drainage system that will properly drain lymphatic fluid by increasing lymphatic outflow and prevent lymphatic fluid from draining into the thoracic duct (TD). Unlike external decompression, this implantable device does not require frequent clinical visits.
Advantages
• Self-contained method to drain the lymphatic system.
• Facilitate drainage, continuously with fewer frequent clinical visits
Application
• Patients with congestive heart failure, liver cirrhosis and other diseases with lymphatic congestions
Stage of Development: Benchtop prototype developed and tested ex vivo