Sonavex has announced that it has received a US$1.7 million grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further develop EchoGuide—a novel technology which is designed to reduce cannulation injury.
The grant provides capital for ongoing research and development activities and user validation testing to demonstrate improved cannulation success.
According to a Sonavex press release, the primary challenged faced by patients care technicians is the inability to see the fistula when attempting to place needles into the fistula vessel. As such, the company is developing EchoGuide, a visually-guided cannulation navigation system via an automated 3D ultrasound.
The system requires no ultrasound experience and is designed to allow dialysis technicians to easily cannulate arteriovenous fistulas.
Alex Yevzlin, chief medical officer of Sonavex, said: “Sonavex would like to thank the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the NIH for supporting this important research.
“The uncertainty of cannulation is a constant source of stress for this vulnerable patient population, and we believe that our imaging solution has the potential to make a major contribution to end-stage renal disease patient health by improving fistula survival via decreasing the rate of access-induced injuries.”
