Electrical method and apparatus for non-invasively detecting abnormal flow in conduits
First Claim
1. Apparatus for non-invasively detecting reduced blood flow downstream of the heart comprising:
- means for detecting the streaming potential of an artery and producing a signal in response thereto;
means for detecting the ECG signal; and
means for permitting simultaneous analysis of said streaming potential and said ECG signal.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
Method and apparatus are disclosed for obtaining flow information of a conductive fluid by detecting the streaming potential and analyzing the resultant signal. In a particular embodiment for detecting abnormal blood velocities in the arterial tree, the apparatus includes a flexible sensor having two fixedly spaced apart electrodes and a common mode signal electrode. Each sensor electrode is connected to an input of a differential amplifier and the common electrode is connected to the common input of the differential amplifier. The output signal from the differential amplifier, after filtering and amplification is provided to a recorder or oscilloscope so that it can be compared with the normal or average signal.
A particular embodiment of the method is used to detect blood flow abnormalities, either too fast or too slow compared with most healthy individuals of the same age. In this method, a flexible sensor having two fixedly mounted electrodes is placed on the skin over the artery to be examined, for example the dorsalis pedis artery, so that each electrode is in electrical contact with a different part of the artery. The detected signal is processed and is compared to normal signals. These comparisons can be the wave shape or the time difference between the detection of the wave pulse and a pump timing signal such as the ECG signal.
32 Citations
8 Claims
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1. Apparatus for non-invasively detecting reduced blood flow downstream of the heart comprising:
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means for detecting the streaming potential of an artery and producing a signal in response thereto; means for detecting the ECG signal; and means for permitting simultaneous analysis of said streaming potential and said ECG signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A passive method for detecting abnormal flow in the arterial tree of an animal, the method comprising:
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placing a first passive electrode in electrical contact with a suspect artery; placing a second passive electrode in electrical contact with the suspect artery, the second electrode being spaced from the first electrode; detecting an electrical signal between the electrodes, the electrical signal having a voltage component above and below a base line level for the suspect artery; similarly detecting a similar electrical signal of a reference artery; and comparing the ratio of the above component to the below component of the detected signal of the suspect artery with the ratio of the above component to the below component of the reference artery.
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8. A passive method for detecting abnormal flow in the arterial tree of an animal, the method comprising:
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placing a first passive electrode in electrical contact with a suspect artery; placing a second passive electrode in electrical contact with the suspect artery, the second electrode being spaced from the first electrode; detecting an electrical signal including a pulse portion; similarly detecting a similar electrical signal and pulse portion of a reference artery; detecting a R portion of an ECG signal; determining a T2 time difference between the R peak and the subsequently detected pulse portion of the electrical signal from the suspect artery and the reference artery; and comparing the two T2 time differences.
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Specification