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Mar 1, 2025

The Memo: Accuryn Medical Bringing Innovation to Urine Output Monitoring & AKI Detection

The Memo: Accuryn Medical Bringing Innovation to Urine Output Monitoring & AKI Detection

Newsletter - Accuryn Medical

March is National Kidney Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness of kidney health and the devastating impact of acute kidney injury (AKI). For Accuryn Medical, every month is Kidney Month.

Under the direction of CEO Sanjay Banerjee, Accuryn Medical is revolutionizing urine output monitoring to detect and prevent AKI from progressing. The Accuryn Monitoring System is the first of its kind, providing real-time, automated urine output (UO) measurement, intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) monitoring, and core body temperature tracking, all seamlessly integrated with electronic medical records (EMR). By addressing a critical—yet often overlooked—issue in critical care, Accuryn is transforming how hospitals detect and manage kidney injury, improving patient outcomes while reducing healthcare costs.

Origin Story

When Banerjee joined Accuryn Medical in 2017, he saw an opportunity to bring modern innovation to a part of hospital care that had remained unchanged for nearly a century. “If you walk into an ICU today, everything is automated—infusion pumps, blood pressure monitoring, pulse oximeters—except for urine output measurement,” Banerjee explained. “The standard of care still relies on nurses manually draining a Foley catheter bag every hour on the hour, a process that has existed since Dr. Foley invented the catheter over 100 years ago.” 

Manually measuring urine output is not just outdated—it is error-prone, time-consuming, and unreliable. Banerjee and his team recognized that accurate, real-time urine output data could serve as a key biomarker for AKI detection. Accuryn Medical was founded with a clear mission: to digitize and automate urine output monitoring, ensuring timely, actionable data for clinicians and preventing life-threatening complications from AKI.

The Current Landscape

AKI is a silent epidemic in healthcare. It is responsible for over 300,000 deaths annually in the United States alone—more than the combined deaths from lung, colon, breast, and prostate cancer. Yet, AKI often goes undetected until irreversible damage has already occurred.

“In surgery, particularly in procedures like cardiac bypass and valve replacement, up to 40% of patients develop AKI,” Banerjee noted. “The surgery might go perfectly, but if the kidneys don’t get the right fluid balance, the patient’s long-term survival is at risk.” AKI is also a major financial burden, costing the healthcare system over $10 billion annually.

Despite these staggering statistics, hospitals still rely on delayed blood tests (serum creatinine) to diagnose AKI—often hours or even days too late. Accuryn’s system provides an alternative: continuous, real-time urine output monitoring, which enables clinicians to detect AKI based on the KDIGO guidelines up to 33 hours before traditional lab tests.

Inside the Innovation

At the heart of Accuryn’s technology is Active DrainLine Clearance (ADLC), a patented system that eliminates the need for nurses to manually drain Foley catheters. This innovation allows Accuryn to:

  • Ensure accurate urine output measurement by preventing stagnant urine columns in the drainage line.
  • Detect AKI stages in real time, using alerts based on KDIGO (Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes) guidelines.
  • Reduce the causes of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) by preventing bladder suction and retrograde urine from entering the bladder.

“Accuryn measures what the kidneys are actually producing, not just what ends up in the drainage bag,” Banerjee emphasized. “That distinction is critical for accurate AKI detection.”

Additionally, Accuryn integrates IAP monitoring, helping identify intra-abdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome—a condition that further restricts kidney function. By tracking multiple physiological parameters in real time, Accuryn provides clinicians with a comprehensive view of renal health.

Progress and Milestones

With nearly 100,000 catheters shipped and in use in more than 70 hospitals, Accuryn Medical is making a tangible impact in critical care. In 2022, the company’s AKI prediction algorithm received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, validating its potential to transform kidney care.

With new CMS regulations taking effect in October 2024, which classify AKI as a reportable hospital harm, the urgency for real-time urine output monitoring has never been greater. Accuryn’s recently published study in The Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia showed that its technology can detect AKI 33 hours earlier than traditional blood tests, allowing clinicians to intervene sooner and prevent AKI from progressing.

As hospitals shift toward proactive AKI management, the company is well-positioned to scale operations and accelerate adoption. “We’re shifting from a ‘nice-to-have’ solution to a must-have technology in every hospital,” Banerjee stated.

Join Us at LSI USA ‘25

Banerjee has been selected to present at LSI USA ‘25 this March 17-21 in front of hundreds of global medical technology companies. Join us in welcoming Banerjee to the event in Dana Point, CA, where he will share the latest updates on Accuryn Medical’s technology and development.