Haemodialysis is life sustaining but expensive, provides limited removal of uraemic solutes, is associated with poor patient quality of life and has a large carbon footprint. Innovative dialysis technologies such as portable, wearable and implantable artificial kidney systems are being developed with the aim of addressing these issues and improving patient care. An important challenge for these technologies is the need for continuous regeneration of a small volume of dialysate. Dialysate recycling systems based on sorbents have great potential for such regeneration. Novel dialysis membranes composed of polymeric or inorganic materials are being developed to improve the removal of a broad range of uraemic toxins, with low levels of membrane fouling compared with currently available synthetic membranes. To achieve more complete therapy and provide important biological functions, these novel membranes could be combined with bioartificial kidneys, which consist of artificial membranes combined with kidney cells. Implementation of these systems will require robust cell sourcing; cell culture facilities annexed to dialysis centres; large-scale, low-cost production; and quality control measures. These challenges are not trivial, and global initiatives involving all relevant stakeholders, including academics, industrialists, medical professionals and patients with kidney disease, are required to achieve important technological breakthroughs.

A continuous wave Doppler radar, operating as a phase-locked-loop in phase demodulator configuration, is proposed and in vivo demonstrated for noncontact vital signs monitoring. The radar architecture exhibits a unique precision in tracking the phase modulation caused by human cardiopulmonary activity from which heartbeat and respiration can simultaneously be extracted. The single mixer architecture is immune to the null point and does not require small-angle approximation conditions, which distinguishes it from pre-existing other approaches. This enables the proposed radar to behave highly linear, with very precise detection of phase modulations induced by any kind of movement, independently from amplitude and speed. After simulations and technical tests to validate functionality and safety of the proposed architecture, a practical setup was demonstrated on human volunteers. Wavelet independent component analysis was applied to successfully retrieve respiratory and heart rate information from the radar baseband signal.

Though often only briefly described in the literature, there are clearly factors that have an influence on the fluorescence intensity, and thereby the usefulness of the technique. This article aims to provide an overview of the factors influencing the fluorescence intensity of fluorescence imaging with Indocyanine green, primarily focussed on NIRF guided cholangiography.

Introduction: This article ponders upon wearable medical measurement devices in relation to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and its’ associated comorbidities – and whether these might benefit CKD-patients. We aimed to map the intersection(s) of nephrology and wearable sensor technology to help technologists understand medical aspects, and clinicians to understand technological possibilities that are available (or soon will become so). Areas covered: A structured literature search on main comorbidities and complications CKD patients suffer from, was used to steer mini-reviews on wearable sensor technologies clustered around 3 themes being: Cardiovascular-related, diabetes-related and physical fitness/frailty. This review excludes wearable dialysis – although also strongly enabled by miniaturization – because that highly important theme deserves separate in-depth reviewing. Expert commentary: Continuous progress in integrated electronics miniaturization enormously lowered price, size, weight and energy consumption of electronic sensors, processing power, memory and wireless connectivity. These combined factors boost opportunities for wearable medical sensors. Such devices can be regarded as enablers for: Remote monitoring, influencing human behaviour (exercise, dietary), enhanced home care, remote consults, patient education and peer networks. However, to make wearable medical devices succeed, the challenge to fit them into health care structures will be dominant over the challenge to realize the bare technologies themselves.

Background. Indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) offers the potential to provide objective data for evaluating tissue perfusion of flaps and reduce the incidence of postoperative necrosis. Consensus on ICGA protocols and information on factors that have an influence on fluorescence intensity is lacking. The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive insight of in vivo and ex vivo evaluation of factors influencing the fluorescence intensity when using ICGA during reconstructive flap surgery. Methods. A systematic literature search was conducted to provide a comprehensive overview of currently used ICGA protocols in reconstructive flap surgery. Additionally, ex vivo experiments were performed to further investigate the practical influence of potentially relevant factors. Results. Factors that are considered important in ICGA protocols, as well as factors that might influence fluorescence intensity are scarcely reported. The ex vivo experiments demonstrated that fluorescence intensity was significantly related to dose, working distance, angle, penetration depth, and ambient light. Conclusions. This study identified factors that significantly influence the fluorescence intensity of ICGA. Applying a weight-adjusted ICG dose seems preferable over a fixed dose, recommended working distances are advocated, and the imaging head during ICGA should be positioned in an angle of 60° to 90° without significantly influencing the fluorescence intensity. All of these factors should be considered and reported when using ICGA for tissue perfusion assessment during reconstructive flap surgery.