<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0PC5dC_1GrvFjMK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0PC5dC_1GrvFjMK00" width="1200" height="800" ><figcaption>Anjali Wadhwa</figcaption></figure>A new medical device developed by a team of four University alumni uses ultrasound to make blood flow monitoring for kidney failure patients easier and more efficient. Auvi Labs, founded by CEO Rishab Veldur, Chief Technology Officer Satyansh Yeluri, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Volkema and Chief Marketing Officer Dr. Richie Li, is a medical technology company created from a capstone project at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Their product, Beacon, is designed to help kidney failure patients detect fistula failures early on.According to Auvi Labs’ website, more than 350,000 patients in the United States rely on arteriovenous fistulas and grafts so they can undergo hemodialysis, a treatment used for kidney failure patients to filter and clean their blood. However, 40% of patients will experience fistula failure within a year from surgery, according to Auvi Labs.According to Yeluri, one thing that doctors look at to assess fistula health is blood flow. However, Veldur said limitations exist with traditional monitoring methods.“(The patients) are essentially being ultrasounded every single hour, or every single day, at some cadence,” Veldur said. “And that bottleneck is simply because we have these hand-held probes that require a sonographer who’s had to go to school for four years to come and take a measurement.”Their website also points out that many patients who are sent home with fistulas have no access to adequate monitoring equipment, increasing the risk of late-detection fistula failure. The site explains that this could lead to additional surgeries and expenses. Enter Beacon, a wearable ultrasound technology that allows blood flow to be monitored remotely. Veldur said the device eliminates the need for sonographers and provides constant blood surveillance. “Our goal is to place these stickers on the body that continues to take blood flow measurements for seven, 14 days at a time,” Veldur said. The idea for Beacon was created during Veldur and Yeluri’s senior year at The Grainger College of Engineering, when Li, then senior at the College of Medicine, approached them with the concept. Volkema, then senior at Gies College of Business, soon joined the team as well. Other than being the starting point of Auvi Labs, Valdur said the University gave them many resources that allowed the team to jump-start their company. In 2024, the team received a total of $36,000 through the Cozad New Venture Challenge. Veldur also cited the EnterpriseWorks startup incubator and the Technology Entrepreneur Center as valuable resources.“I think all of those combined (to) really help … give us a ton of connections to the real world, so we can actually take our technology and go try it in hospitals,” Veldur said. Currently, Veldur said Beacon has received interest from multiple hospitals across the U.S., the most recent being Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. They have recently received approval to begin recruiting patients, according to Veldur.Veldur also said Auvi Labs is looking into expanding their ultrasound concept to aid patients with other medical conditions.“We are working with some pretty cool hospitals in the area of oncology, so helping cancer patients remove their cancers, or also working with some heart hospitals, heart failure patients,” Veldur said.Yeluri said the team’s ultimate goal is to eliminate the need for manually operated ultrasound technology.“It could just be as simple as placing the device, and it can automatically take readings, and alert the physician if anything’s wrong,” Yeluri said. “We just want to make nurses’ and physicians’ lives easier.”</div></body>

Block Source: Daily Illini

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A new medical device developed by a team of four University alumni uses ultrasound to make blood flow monitoring for kidney failure patients easier and more efficient. Auvi Labs, founded by CEO Rishab Veldur, Chief Technology Officer Satyansh Yeluri, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Volkema and Chief Marketing Officer Dr. Richie Li, is a medical technology company created from a capstone project at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Their product, Beacon, is designed to help kidney failure patients detect fistula failures early on.

UI alumni develop device to aid kidney failure patients

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A new medical device developed by a team of four University alumni uses ultrasound to make blood flow monitoring for kidney failure patients easier and mor

UI alumni develop device to aid kidney failure patients

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