Implantable bladder sensor
First Claim
1. An implantable sensor for monitoring the condition of an organ of a recipient'"'"'s body, the sensor including:
- a carrier for attachment to an outer surface of the organ; and
an impedance-varying means carried by the carrier, the impedance of the impedance-varying means varying as the condition of the organ changes to cause a change in output state of the impedance-varying means.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An implantable sensor for monitoring the condition of an organ, such as the bladder, of a recipients'"'"' body. The sensor (100) comprises a carrier (102), such as a tubular housing that is attachable to the outer surface of the organ. An impedance-varying means (104), such as a saline solution, is carried by the carrier (102). The impedance-varying means (104) within the carrier varies as the condition of the organ changes to cause in output state of the sensor (100). The sensor (1000) can be used for the purposes of monitoring the filling of the bladder, making bladder volume information to the recipient or another person, and causing an alarm signal to be generated when a preset bladder volume is reached.
90 Citations
32 Claims
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1. An implantable sensor for monitoring the condition of an organ of a recipient'"'"'s body, the sensor including:
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a carrier for attachment to an outer surface of the organ; and
an impedance-varying means carried by the carrier, the impedance of the impedance-varying means varying as the condition of the organ changes to cause a change in output state of the impedance-varying means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An implantable sensor for monitoring the volume of fluid present in a recipient'"'"'s bladder, the sensor including:
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a carrier for attachment to an outer surface of the bladder; and
an impedance-varying means carried by the carrier;
wherein changes in the outer surface of the bladder as it expands upon receiving fluid are detected as changes in the impedance of the impedance-varying means. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An implantable sensor for detecting variations in shape of an organ of a recipient'"'"'s body, the sensor comprising:
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an elongate flexible housing attachable to an organ of the body;
a conductive material contained within the housing;
at least one electrode for detecting variations in impedance of the sensor;
wherein as the body organ changes shape, the housing also undergoes a change in shape which is detected by the electrode as a variation in the overall impedance of the conductive material within the housing. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification