2009 Minimally Invasive Blood Draw System for Use in Neonates

Team Members:  Jeff Kang, Angela Ren, Mia Shanholtzer

Capstone Client:  Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, UCSF

Purpose/Goal:
Obtaining blood samples for laboratory testing is a commonplace medical practice, which can be extremely difficult in some patients (e.g. infants, the elderly & chronically ill). Pre-term infants often subjected to up to 20 painful procedures/day. The team designed a novel neonatal blood draw system that is minimally invasive, capable of drawing several milliliters of blood, and confers no adverse effects upon blood sample integrity.

2009 pediatrics prototype