Background

There is a need in the United States population and the world population to control the levels of prothrombin in the blood stream of many elderly and special case patients.  The current international standard for measuring the level of prothrombin uses the International Normalized Ratio (INR).  If the patient’s INR falls within a range of 2.0 to 3.9 it must be adjusted.  Ingesting particular dosages of the Dupont Pharmaceutical drug Coumadin®/Warfarin allows this adjustment to be made.  Currently 100% of all mechanical heart valve patients, 60% of atrial fibrillation patients, and 21% of post stroke patients require Coumadin®/Warfarin therapy.  There are roughly 15 million people in the United States that are in need of Coumadin®/Warfarin therapy, but only 6 million receive therapy to date.  A large reason for the discrepancy is the hassle that the patients must go through in order to receive treatment.  If receiving the therapy can be made more convenient an increased number of patients can be reached.  By designing an in home delivery apparatus it is believed that Coumadin®/Warfarin therapy can be made considerably more convenient.  This design project utilizes a four-phase design method to devise a suitable pharmaceutical delivery apparatus. This has resulted in the design of a compact and fully automated device, all of which is described in this document.

The Senior Design Project

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