Team 12

Aeration Solutions: Saline Aeration Device for ECHO Analysis

Team Members: Anna Deng, Angelica Garrido, Ravyn Ogden - SBHSE

Team Mentors: Dr. Jonathan Plasencia - Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Dr. Stephen Pophal, MD - Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Dr. Jitendran Muthuswamy - SBHSE

YouTube Link: View the video link below before joining the zoom meeting

Zoom Link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/99245521755

Abstract

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the most prevalent cause of death in birth defects. It affects approximately 40,000 births a year in the United States with 100-200 deaths due to unrecognized heart disease. For diagnosis, Echocardiography (ECHO), an ultrasound cardiac imaging technique, is used to determine heart structural defects such as if there is a hole between the chambers of the heart. Contrast agents are used in this process, however, it may cause complications such as liver failure, particularly in children. As a result, clinicians aerate saline by hand prior to injection in order to create microbubbles as a contrasting agent substitute. The saline aeration technique is a clinically tried-and-true methodology for visualizing patient structural abnormalities. However, the current techniques of pushing saline back and forth through syringes or massaging the saline bag, are very uncontrolled and associated with risks such as cerebral air embolisms and stroke. Nearly 30% of all ischemic strokes are caused by embolism. Therefore, our goal is to develop a saline aeration device to assist clinicians aerating saline in a controlled and quantified manner. Through customer needs assessments and interviews, as well as concept generation, the key identified features for our device includes the ability to control microbubble size and produce uniform microbubbles in saline solutions. We have developed a design to aerate saline with CO2 gas through a venturi injector and that passively filters microbubbles through pore filters in order to control microbubble size and prevent the formation of microbubbles with too large of a diameter that may lead to air embolisms. In addition, the system will allow clinicians to select the size of microbubbles produced for use.

Video: