Arm Support Device Particularly For Use In An Apparatus For Measuring Arterial Pressure

• US 20070293773A1
• Filed: 11/15/2005
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Francesca Ghigini
• Original Assignee: Francesca Ghigini
• Inventors: Ghigini, Francesca
• Application Number:
  US11/791,245
• Publication Number:
  US 20070293773A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/485
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0261 using hydrostatic pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/022 by applying pressure to close blood vessels, e.g. against the skin; Ophthalmodynamometers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1072 measuring distances on the body, e.g. measuring length, height or thickness A61B5/1076 takes precedence

Abstract

“A device (1) for supporting the arm of a patient in order to measure blood pressure, which includes a pedestal (2) provided with a support (4) for resting the arm and a mechanism (7) adapted to detect the height of the patient and a mechanism (9, 10, 11) adapted to move the support and arrange it vertically as a function of the detected height.”

Claims

1. A device for supporting an arm of a patient in order to measure blood pressure, the device comprising a pedestal provided with a support for resting the arm, characterized in that the device comprises means adapted to detect a height of the patient and means adapted to move said support and arrange the support vertically as a function of said detected height.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that said means adapted to detect the height of the patient comprise an ultrasound source and an ultrasound receiver.

3. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that said ultrasound source and said ultrasound receiver are arranged at an end of a rod-like element which protrudes from said pedestal.

4. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that said means adapted to move said support comprise a compressor which is suitable to actuate a pneumatic cylinder which is rigidly connected to said support, said pneumatic cylinder being guided along a movement guide.

5. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that the device comprises a graduated rod which is arranged along said pedestal, said pneumatic cylinder being adapted to slide vertically along said graduated rod.

6. A method for determining a correct height of an armrest for supporting an arm of a patient in a blood pressure measurement apparatus, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of:

sitting the patient on a seat of said apparatus;

detecting the distance between a top of a head of the patient and a sitting surface of said seat; and

on the basis of the detected distance, positioning the armrest of said apparatus so that the arm of the patient is at the same height as a heart of the patient.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the positioning of said armrest is performed by analyzing a correlation curve which links the measured height information to the height of the heart of the patient and therefore to the position of the armrest with respect to a seat on which the patient is sitting.