Systems, devices, and methods including catheters having light removable coatings based on a sensed condition

• US 20110160681A1
• Filed: 11/10/2010
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Gearbox LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Searete LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Wood, Victoria Y. H., Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Smith, Michael A., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Tegreene, Clarence T., Wood, Lowell L. JR., Rivet, Dennis J., Hyde, Roderick A., Kare, Jordin T., Sweeney, Elizabeth A., Leuthardt, Eric C., Dacey, Ralph G. JR.
• Application Number:
  US12/927,291
• Publication Number:
  US 20110160681A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/265
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1492 having a flexible, catheter-like structure, e.g. for heart ablation A61B18/1477 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/24 with a catheter A61B18/26, A61B18/28 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00005 Cooling or heating of the probe or tissue immediately surrounding the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/022 intracavitary

Abstract

Systems, devices, methods, and compositions are described for providing an actively-controllable disinfecting implantable device configured to, for example, treat or prevent an infection in a biological subject.

Claims

1. An implantable catheter device, comprising:

a body structure including a plurality of regions having one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings defining at least a portion of at least one of the outer surface or the inner surface of the body structure, the body structure having an outer surface or an inner surface defining one or more fluid-flow passageways and configured to transmit at least a portion of an emitted energy stimulus propagated within the body structure though one or more of a the plurality of regions having had an in vivo selectively removable protective coating removed; and

circuitry configured to determine a microorganism colonization event in one or more of the plurality of regions having the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings.

2. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the plurality of regions having the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings define a spaced-apart pattern of at least one repeating region comprising at least a first selectively removable protective coating material.

3. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings include a cell-rejecting compound.

4. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings includes at least one of copper or silver.

5. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings include a cell-rejecting polymer.

6. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings includes at least one of poly(ethylene oxide), poly(ethylene glycol), or poly(styrene-isobutylene styrene).

7. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings includes a photo-degradable material.

8. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings includes a bioerodible material.

9. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings includes body fluid soluble material.

10. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings includes blood erodible material.

11. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more computing devices operably coupled to one or more sensors, the computing device configured to cause a removal of at least one of the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings based on detected information from the one or more sensors.

12. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more thermal detectors, photovoltaic detectors, or photomultiplier detectors.

13. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more charge-coupled devices, complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor devices, photodiode image sensor devices, whispering gallery mode micro cavity devices, or scintillation detector devices.

14. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more ultrasonic transducers.

15. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more photoacoustic spectrometers.

16. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more density sensors.

17. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more optical density sensors.

18. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more refractive index sensors.

19. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more fiber optic refractive index sensors.

20. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more surface plasmon resonance sensors.

21. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more localized surface plasmon resonance sensors.

22. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes a light transmissive support and a reflective metal layer.

23. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more acoustic biosensors, amperometric biosensors, calorimetric biosensors, optical biosensors, or potentiometric biosensors.

24. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more fluid flow sensors.

25. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more differential electrodes.

26. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more biological mass sensors.

27. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more immuno-sensors.

28. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes biofilm marker information configured as a physical data structure, the physical data structure including a characteristic information section having characteristic microbial colonization spectral information representative of the presence of a microbial colonization proximate one or more of the plurality of regions having the one or more in vivo selectively removable protective coatings.

29. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes one or more functionalized cantilevers.

30. The implantable catheter device 1, wherein the circuitry configured to determine the microorganism colonization event includes a biological molecule capture layer.

31. The implantable catheter device of claim 30, wherein the biological molecule capture layer includes an array of different binding molecules that specifically bind one or more target molecules.