Kidney Monitoring Hasn’t Changed Since 1936 with Todd Dunn

Henry Norton sits down with Todd Dunn, CEO of Accuryn Medical, for a conversation that starts on an OR floor and ends with a question about what it really means to lead with integrity. Todd didn’t come to medtech through a lab or a VC fund, he came through a hospital in Charlotte, where a CRNA pointed under a bed and showed him that the kidney, medicine’s most sensitive organ, was still being monitored by a gravity-fed bag invented in 1936. A decade on from that moment, he’s now running the company trying to fix it.Key TopicsWhy kidney monitoring hasn’t meaningfully advanced since CR Bard’s 1936 Foley catheterWhat AKI (acute kidney injury) actually is and why CMS now classifies it as a hospital-acquired harmHow Accuryn’s SmartFoley detects kidney distress up to 12 hours before blood tests canThe ‘diagnosis before prescription’ framework Todd built at Atrium HealthTransitioning from health system innovator to medtech CEORelated InsightsWhy hospital financing explains why the kidney was the last vital organ to be digitisedThe real cost of AKI: 13 million cases annually, 300,000 deaths, and $10–24bn in US healthcare spendWhy serum creatinine is the wrong marker for kidney function and what replaces itHow clinical partnership rather than conventional sales tactics is breaking through hospital inertiaCore ChallengesThe standard of care for urinary output measurement hasn’t changed since 1936. While the heart, lungs, and brain are fully digitised in critical care settings, hospitals still rely on a gravity-dependent system prone to stagnation, back-pressure, and manual error. ICU nurses carry the cognitive burden and patients pay the price when outputs go unrecorded.Creatinine blood tests only flag kidney injury once function has already dropped to 60%. By the time the lab result returns, damage is done. Urine output is the real-time vital sign — and Accuryn is the only FDA-cleared platform that automates and digitises it, giving clinicians up to a 12-hour head start.Tune in now to find out why the most sensitive organ in the body has been flying blind for nearly a century and what one former hospital innovator is doing to fix it.The Crux of MedTech podcast is brought to you by Cruxx, a specialist surgical robotics recruitment agency. To learn more about Cruxx,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠click here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A big thank you to our sponsors on this season of the podcast; ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TTP plc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ With a 35-year track record, TTP excels in turning innovative ideas into market-ready solutions. Their team of 300+ experts deliver breakthrough solutions in areas ranging from endoluminal robotics and navigation systems to ultrasound imaging. Whether you're a startup or a multinational, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TTP plc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ can accelerate your development with the latest technologies. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TTP.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠