Method and apparatus for monitoring blood condition and cardiopulmonary function
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for measuring a selected characteristic of a patient'"'"'s blood, comprising:
- (a) a sensor carrier including a flexible sheet-like member having a pair of opposite faces;
(b) first and second electronic sensors mounted on said sensor carrier, said first sensor being directed outwardly from a first one of said pair of opposite faces and said second sensor being directed outwardly from the other one of said pair of opposite faces, each of said first and second sensors having a respective receptor capable of providing a receptor output signal representative of a level of a selected characteristic of blood within an adjacent blood-containing structure, said sensor carrier and said first and second sensors collectively being small enough to be placed within said patient'"'"'s body cavity and proximate said patient'"'"'s heart, permitting substantially simultaneous observation of blood in a first blood-containing structure by said first sensor and of blood in a second blood-containing structure by said second sensor without mechanical penetration of either of said blood-containing structures by either of said first and second sensors.
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Abstract
Sensors located on a sensor carrier are placed adjacent one or more of a surgical patient'"'"'s major thoracic blood-containing structures such as the aorta or pulmonary artery, and characteristics of blood in the blood-containing structures are determined noninvasively by measuring transmission or reflection of light or other types of energy by the blood. Emitters and receptors included in the sensors are connected electrically with suitable electronic signal generating and processing components in a package remote from the sensor carrier.
71 Citations
66 Claims
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1. Apparatus for measuring a selected characteristic of a patient'"'"'s blood, comprising:
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(a) a sensor carrier including a flexible sheet-like member having a pair of opposite faces;
(b) first and second electronic sensors mounted on said sensor carrier, said first sensor being directed outwardly from a first one of said pair of opposite faces and said second sensor being directed outwardly from the other one of said pair of opposite faces, each of said first and second sensors having a respective receptor capable of providing a receptor output signal representative of a level of a selected characteristic of blood within an adjacent blood-containing structure, said sensor carrier and said first and second sensors collectively being small enough to be placed within said patient'"'"'s body cavity and proximate said patient'"'"'s heart, permitting substantially simultaneous observation of blood in a first blood-containing structure by said first sensor and of blood in a second blood-containing structure by said second sensor without mechanical penetration of either of said blood-containing structures by either of said first and second sensors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method of at least partially evaluating a selected aspect of a patient'"'"'s metabolic function, comprising:
measuring separately at least one characteristic selected from the group consisting of glucose content, potassium content, and lactate content of blood present in each of at least two selected major thoracic blood-containing structures by using at least one electronic sensor, located within said patient'"'"'s thoracic cavity but outside said selected major thoracic blood-containing structures, to observe said blood through a respective wall of each of said selected major thoracic blood-containing structures without inserting a sensor into any of said selected major thoracic blood-containing structures, and comparing respective values of said at least one characteristic as measured in each of said at least two selected major thoracic blood-containing structures by said at least one electronic sensor. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
Specification