Integrated glucose monitor and insulin injection pen with automatic emergency notification

• US 20120046606A1
• Filed: 08/18/2010
• Published: 02/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thuban Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Thuban Incorporated
• Inventors: Arefieg, Rana J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,206,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/66
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150022 for capillary blood or interstitial fluid
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150358 Strips for collecting blood, e.g. absorbent optical reagent test strips G01N21/8483; chemical reagent test strips G01N33/4875, G01N33/52
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150412 Pointed piercing elements, e.g. needles, lancets for piercing the skin blade-like piercing elements A61B5/150442
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150503 Single-ended needles hollow piercing element tip design A61B5/150396, needle sets for catheters A61M25/06, needles for bringing media into the body A61M5/32
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150854 long distance, e.g. between patient's home and doctor's office
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15105 Purely manual piercing, i.e. the user pierces the skin without the assistance of any driving means or driving devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15186 Devices loaded with a single lancet, i.e. a single lancet with or without a casing is loaded into a reusable drive device and then discarded after use; drive devices reloadable for multiple use
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/157 Devices characterised by integrated means for measuring characteristics of blood
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4839 combined with drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/741 using synthesised speech
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/749 Voice-controlled interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3523 using telemetric means
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3553 remote, e.g. between patient's home and doctor's office
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3576 with non implanted data transmission devices, e.g. using external transmitter or receiver
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/50 with microprocessors or computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/14244 adapted to be carried by the patient, e.g. portable on the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/1723 : using feedback of body parameters, e.g. blood-sugar, pressure measurement of body parameters A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/31546 : Electrically operated dose setting, e.g. input via touch screen or plus/minus buttons
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation

Abstract

A portable insulin injection pen and blood glucose monitoring device is integrated into a single unit for testing and treating diabetes symptoms. The device has a housing of a size suitable for transport in a user'"'"'s clothing pocket or handbag. Within the housing is a blood glucose monitoring system for receiving a sample of the user'"'"'s blood and detecting its glucose level, an insulin injection mechanism for administering an insulin injection, and a microprocessor that calculates an insulin dosage appropriate to the detected blood glucose level and sets the insulin injection mechanism to administer the calculated insulin dosage. A communication device automatically informs a remote emergency service provider, such as 911 or an emergency service to which the user has subscribed, if the microprocessor determines that the detected blood glucose level presents a potential danger to the user. The microprocessor also calculates treatment regimens specific to a particular user based on the detected blood glucose level and displays the treatment regimens on an LCD display. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, a GPS receiver within the housing detects the location of the device, and the communication device, which can be a cellular telephone separate from the housing connected wirelessly to the unit via a Bluetooth connection or cellular telephone circuitry within the housing itself, transmits information regarding the location to the remote emergency service.

Claims

1. A portable blood glucose monitoring device and insulin injection pen integrated into a single unit for testing and treating diabetes symptoms in a user, the device comprising:

a housing of a size suitable for transport in a handbag or clothing pocket of the user;

a blood glucose monitoring system within said housing for receiving a sample of the user'"'"'s blood and detecting the glucose level thereof;

an insulin injection mechanism within said housing for permitting the user to self-administer an insulin injection;

a microprocessor within said housing for calculating an insulin dosage appropriate to the detected blood glucose level and setting said insulin injection mechanism to administer the calculated insulin dosage;

a display mounted on said housing for displaying the detected blood glucose level and the calculated insulin dosage; and

a communication device within said housing and under the control of said microprocessor for automatically informing a remote emergency service provider if said microprocessor determines that the detected blood glucose level presents a potential danger to the user.

2. A device as in claim 1, further comprising at least one manual input device operable by the user in conjunction with information displayed on said display for providing a user interface permitting the user to control predetermined operations of said unit.

3. A device as in claim 1, wherein said communication device includes a cellular telephone and the remote emergency service provider is at least one of a public emergency service provider and an emergency service to which the user has subscribed.

4. A device as in claim 3, wherein said communication device is at least one of (i) a cellular telephone separate from said housing and circuitry within said housing for establishing a wireless connection to said cellular telephone, and (ii) cellular telephone circuitry within said housing.

5. A device as in claim 1, further comprising a GPS receiver within said housing for detecting the location of the device, wherein said communication device transmits information regarding the location to the remote emergency service provider.

6. A device as in claim 1, wherein said microprocessor determines treatment regimens specific to the user based on the detected blood glucose level and displays the treatment regimens on said display.

7. A device as in claim 6, wherein said treatment regimens include:

ingestion of at least one blood glucose producing substance in an amount determined by said microprocessor based on the detected blood glucose level, if the detected blood glucose level indicates that the user is hypoglycemic; and

injection of a specific amount of insulin based on a dosage determined by said microprocessor based on the detected blood glucose level, if the detected blood glucose level indicates that the user is hyperglycemic.

8. A device as in claim 7, comprising a mode switch for enabling the user to selectively activate (i) the blood glucose monitoring system for detecting the glucose level of the blood sample provided by the user and (ii) the insulin injection mechanism for automatically setting an insulin dosage calculated by said microprocessor using the detected blood glucose level.

9. A device as in claim 8, further comprising at least one manual input device operable by the user in conjunction with information displayed on said display for enabling the user to change the dosage of insulin to be injected by said insulin injection mechanism.

10. A device as in claim 9, wherein said microprocessor further includes dose lock software that causes said display to display a prompt requiring the user to confirm the desire to change the amount of insulin to be injected before permitting said insulin injection mechanism to inject the amount of insulin input by the user.

11. A device as in claim 7, wherein said microprocessor displays a prompt on said display instructing the user to detect the glucose level of a sample of the user'"'"'s blood.

12. A method of monitoring a diabetes patient including:

providing a portable blood glucose monitoring device comprising a housing of a size suitable for transport in a handbag or clothing pocket of the patient, said housing having therein a blood glucose monitoring system for receiving a sample of the patient'"'"'s blood and detecting the glucose level thereof, a storage device for storing a threshold representing a blood glucose level of potential danger to the patient, a GPS receiver for detecting the location of the device, and a communication device for contacting a remote emergency service provider;

introducing to the blood glucose monitoring system a sample of the user'"'"'s blood;

comparing the detected blood glucose level of the sample to the threshold blood glucose level; and

if the detected level is past the threshold, automatically activating the communication device to transmit a message to the emergency service provider including information on the potentially dangerous condition of the user and information regarding the location of the device.

13. A method as in claim 12, wherein the storage device stores a first threshold representing a blood glucose level below which the patient is severely hypoglycemic and may be disoriented or comatose, and a second threshold above which the patient is severely hyperglycemic and may require immediate medical intervention, the method further including setting a time period by which the patient must provide an input to the monitoring device if the detected blood glucose level is below the first threshold or above the second threshold before automatically activating the communication device.

14. A method as in claim 12, wherein the input by the patient is at least one of (i) activating a manual input device on the monitoring device, and (ii) activating voice recognition software in a microprocessor in the monitoring device by speaking into a microphone on the monitoring device.

15. A method as in claim 12, wherein said monitoring device further comprises an insulin injection mechanism within said housing for permitting the user to self-administer an insulin injection, the method further including:

determining if the detected blood glucose level indicates that the patient is hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic;

if the patient is hypoglycemic, instructing the patient to ingest an amount of at least one blood glucose producing substance based on the detected blood glucose level; and

if the patient is hyperglycemic, calculating an insulin dosage appropriate to the detected blood glucose level and using the insulin injection mechanism to set an amount of insulin to be injected based on the detected blood glucose level.

16. A method as in claim 15, wherein said device further comprises a mode switch for enabling the patient to selectively activate (i) the blood glucose monitoring system for detecting the glucose level of the blood sample provided by the patient and (ii) the insulin injection mechanism for automatically setting an insulin dosage calculated by said microprocessor using the detected blood glucose level, the method further including:

setting a time period for the patient to provide a blood sample to the monitoring device when the mode switch activates the blood glucose monitoring system; and

setting a time period for the patient to complete an insulin injection when the mode switch activates the insulin injection mechanism.