APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR MONITORING BLOOD FLOW IN THE PROSTRATE GLAND
First Claim
1. A system for measuring blood flow in a subject'"'"'s prostate gland, the system comprising:
- a catheter sized and configured such that, when placed within the urinary tract of a male individual, a proximal portion of the catheter resides outside the body of the individual, a middle portion of the catheter resides within a urethra of the individual and a distal portion of the catheter comprising an anchor resides within a urinary bladder of the individual; and
,a blood flow sensor supported by the middle portion of the catheter at a location spaced apart from the anchor.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for detecting blood flow in the prostate comprises a blood flow sensor disposed on a catheter that can be inserted into a subject'"'"'s urethra so that the blood flow sensor is located to detect blood flow in the subject'"'"'s prostate gland. The sensor may be a sensor of a near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system configured to detect in the prostate one or more biocompounds indicative of blood flow. An output of the sensor may provide an input to a controller for a heater disposed to heat tissues of the prostate. Some embodiments comprise one or more additional sensors for detecting blood flow and/or temperature of a portion of the subject'"'"'s rectal wall adjacent to the prostate gland. In such embodiments, outputs from the additional sensors may provide additional inputs to the controller.
16 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A system for measuring blood flow in a subject'"'"'s prostate gland, the system comprising:
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a catheter sized and configured such that, when placed within the urinary tract of a male individual, a proximal portion of the catheter resides outside the body of the individual, a middle portion of the catheter resides within a urethra of the individual and a distal portion of the catheter comprising an anchor resides within a urinary bladder of the individual; and
,a blood flow sensor supported by the middle portion of the catheter at a location spaced apart from the anchor. - 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, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A catheter useful for measuring blood flow in a subject'"'"'s prostate gland, the catheter comprising:
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an elongated catheter body sized and configured such that, when placed within the urinary tract of a male individual, a proximal portion of the catheter body resides outside the body of the individual, a middle portion of the catheter body resides within a urethra of the individual and a distal portion of the catheter body comprising an anchor resides within a urinary bladder of the individual; and
,a blood flow sensor supported by the middle portion of the catheter body at a location spaced apart from the anchor.
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44. Apparatus for applying thermal treatment to a subject'"'"'s prostate gland, the system comprising:
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a rectal probe comprising a rectal wall blood flow sensor; a tissue heating system; a control controlling operation of the tissue heating system and connected to receive a rectal wall blood flow signal output by the rectal wall blood flow sensor; wherein the control is configured to inhibit operation of the tissue heating system upon determining that the rectal wall blood flow signal satisfies a condition. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46)
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47. (canceled)
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48. (canceled)
Specification