Project Overview

Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) is a vital intervention for patients with kidney failure that utilizes the peritoneum. While a patient sleeps, a filtering machine, PD cycler, is used to pump dialysate into the cavity. The sterile solution absorbs any toxins in the blood as a kidney would and is then pumped back into the machine and a new clean solution is provided; this cycle runs about three times throughout the duration of the night.

Current PD cyclers use a patient line that pumps dialysates directly to the transfer set connected to an implanted catheter and then to the peritoneum. The transfer set is sterilized using povidone iodine caps during the day when the patient is not using the cycler. While the povidone iodine caps effectively kill pathogens, it has been known to become toxic in the body after multiple exposures and may not reach all the surfaces of this access connector. Inadequate sterilization can lead to deadly infections such as peritonitis or the inflammation of the peritoneum. Furthermore, this current sterilization technique utilizes disposable caps each time which raises environmental concerns.

The team plans on constructing a system that disinfects the patient line by using UV light without the use of chemicals. In the future, the transfer set would be sterilized in the system as well.

Team Picture

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Contact Information

Team Members

• Ryan Wisth - Team Leader
• Yiqun Ma - Communicator & BWIG
• Lena Hampson - BSAC
• Kyuhyun Lee - BPAG

Advisor and Client

• Prof. Justin Williams - Advisor
• Dr. Shawn Oppegard - Client

Related Projects

• Spring 2018: Baxter: UV disinfection system for access connectors
• Fall 2017: Baxter: UV disinfection system for access connectors