INDICATORS FOR A SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC SYSTEM

• US 20150018651A1
• Filed: 06/23/2014
• Published: 01/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cas Medical Systems Incorporated (Edwards Lifesciences Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Cas Medical Systems Incorporated (Edwards Lifesciences Corporation)
• Inventors: Benni, Paul, Chen, Bo, Kersey, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US14/312,205
• Publication Number:
  US 20150018651A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/323
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14553 specially adapted for cerebral tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B

Abstract

A near-infrared spectrophotometric system (e.g., a cerebral oximeter) includes a sensor portion and a monitor portion. The monitor portion includes a processor that runs an algorithm which utilizes the amount of detected light to determine the value of the oxygen concentration (e.g., the absolute level of oxygen concentration). The monitor portion also includes a visual display that displays the determined oxygen concentration values in various formats. The monitor portion may also include an audible device (e.g., a speaker), that provides audible indications of the determined oxygen concentration values. Various visual indicators may include, for example, color-coded graphs of the determined oxygenation values to alert the system user, for example, whether one hemisphere of the brain, or one or more regions of the brain, is in danger of adverse and potentially permanent damage. Also, data may be pre-processed by selecting the most clinically concerning sensor value (e.g., the sensor with the lowest value), and displaying only that sensor value and its identification on the display screen. Alternatively, an average value of multiple sensor measurements may be displayed. This reduces screen clutter and increases the speed of interpretation by the system user. Also, all sensor values may be averaged, and the average value displayed. The determined oxygenation values may also be provided in an audible format.

Claims

1. A method for non-invasively determining the blood oxygen saturation level within a subject'"'"'s tissue, using a spectrophotometric system that includes a processor, a visual display, and a plurality of sensors, the method comprising the steps of:

positioning the sensors relative to the subject to sense separate regions of the subject;

spectrophotometrically sensing the subject'"'"'s tissue using the sensors and determining an absolute oxygen saturation level for each region using the processor and the sensed signal data from each region;

using the processor to compare the oxygen saturation level of each region to a predetermined value, and to determine which region has the most adverse oxygen saturation value relative to the predetermined value; and

displaying on the visual display the oxygen saturation level for the region having the most adverse oxygen saturation level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined value is an absolute value independent of oxygen saturation values determined from the subject'"'"'s tissue.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined value represents a minimum oxygen saturation value, and the adverse condition represents an oxygen saturation value below the minimum oxygen saturation value.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of adjusting the predetermined value in relation to one or more physiological parameters of the subject.

5. A method for non-invasively determining the blood oxygen saturation level within a subject'"'"'s tissue, the method comprising the steps of:

spectrophotometrically sensing separate regions of the subject'"'"'s tissue using at least one sensor in each region and using the signal data produced by the sensor in the respective region and a processor to determine an absolute oxygen saturation level for the respective region;

displaying on a visual display a value indicative of the determined oxygen saturation level for at least one of the regions in one of a plurality of colors, which colors are distinguishable from one another, wherein each of the plurality of colors is associated with a predetermined range of oxygen saturation values, and displaying the determined oxygen saturation value in the one of a plurality of colors to indicate that the determined saturation value of the respective region resides within the predetermined range of oxygen saturation values associated with the one of a plurality of colors.

6. (canceled)

7. A method for non-invasively determining the blood oxygen saturation level within a subject'"'"'s tissue, the method comprising the steps of:

spectrophotometrically sensing separate regions of the subject'"'"'s tissue using at least one sensor in each region and using signal data produced by the sensor in the respective region and a processor to determine an arterial oxygen saturation value (SpO2) and an absolute oxygen saturation level (StO2) for the respective region;

displaying on a visual display an oxygen saturation data value using the determined SpO2 and StO2 values.