A new medical device to reduce the urinary lithiasis recurrence – URITRACK

The recurrence of the kidney stones (or urinary lithiasis) increases in all industrialized countries implying an increasing cost for healthcare systems. In this project, we propose to reduce it by developing a new connected auto-test monitoring the urinary composition. This device is composed of two modules. The first one is based on colorimetric and refractometric sensors enabling a long term nutrition follow-up to prevent the fabrication of kidney stone formation. Therefore, it is of particular importance for the patient to understand and measure the impact of its food on its stone recurrence risk.The second one is a turbidimetric sensor (more precisely we will use nephelometry) used as a short term warning system. It will detect the first steps of kidney stone formation by quantifying the crystals in urine (named crystalluria) through the turbidimetric measurement. The coupling of these two modules (short and long-term prevention) is the main innovative feature of the proposed system. The second point is that the analyses are carried out at home at an affordable cost by the general public. A software application enables the patient to access to the analyses follow-up and to contextualize its data. As the generated data are classified as health data, their security will be taken into account throughout the instrumental and software chain.
The first objective of this project is to develop a urinary auto-test with a high reliability compatible for urinary lithiasis prevention. The second objective is to show that the biomarkers integrated into the device are relevant for early detection of an increased risk of kidney stone production and alerting the patient to this fact, which can very quickly modify his diet. The third objective is to prove that this auto-test can be integrated into a long-term prevention by detecting the causes of the urinary lithiasis, coaching the patient about his food and improving the interaction between the doctor and the patient.
To this end, the various technologies (nephelometry, colorimetry and refractometry) will be developed separately and then integrated, for the first time, into a single, portable device. The latter will then be validated by comparing it with reference methods applied in hospitals in the context of laboratory handling and then in real situations. In the latter case, the prototypes developed will be handled by users who have no link with the project, thus allowing their operational validation.
The first expected impact of the URITRACK project in the long term is to reduce the severe pain caused by renal colic to patients. Indeed, reducing the recurrence of kidney stones reduces the occurrence of these kidney attacks, which are known to cause one of the most severe pain. The second impact concerns reducing the cost of this disease by targeting an innovative and effective preventive strategy. Indeed, the trend in industrialized countries is towards an increase in the costs generated by kidney stones due to increased prevalence and incidence. The origin of this evolution is mainly in the diet, which requires nutrition education and is the main objective of this project. Finally, the third expected impact is to allow epidemiological monitoring studies of this disease by public authorities and the medical community, following anonymization of the data.