Tonometry system for determining blood pressure
First Claim
1. For use in a system for noninvasively determining the intra-arterial blood pressure of a patient, a tissue contact stress sensing apparatus comprising:
- a continuous diaphragm,means for placing said continuous diaphragm against a patient'"'"'s tissue which covers an underlying artery, said diaphragm adapted to deform in response to stress in said tissue caused by the intra-arterial blood pressure of said artery,semiconductor means placed in close proximity to and spaced apart from said continuous diaphragm for irradiating said diaphragm with electromagnetic radiation,means for receiving said electromagnetic radiation reflected from said continuous diaphragm,whereby the quantity of electromagnetic radiation received by said receiving means is a function of the displacement of said continuous diaphragm in response to said tissue stress caused by said intra-arterial blood pressure of said artery.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A tissue contact stress sensing system incorporates a semiconductor assembly and a continuous diaphragm to noninvasively determine the intra-arterial blood pressure of a patient. The system comprises a continuous diaphragm placed against a patient'"'"'s tissue which covers an underlying artery. The semiconductor assembly is placed in close proximity to and spaced apart from the diaphragm for directly irradiating the diaphragm with electromagnetic radiation and receiving a portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is reflected from the continuous diaphragm. The disclosed system also utilizes a technique for minimizing the system errors associated with temperature drift and aging of the sensor.
126 Citations
19 Claims
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1. For use in a system for noninvasively determining the intra-arterial blood pressure of a patient, a tissue contact stress sensing apparatus comprising:
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a continuous diaphragm, means for placing said continuous diaphragm against a patient'"'"'s tissue which covers an underlying artery, said diaphragm adapted to deform in response to stress in said tissue caused by the intra-arterial blood pressure of said artery, semiconductor means placed in close proximity to and spaced apart from said continuous diaphragm for irradiating said diaphragm with electromagnetic radiation, means for receiving said electromagnetic radiation reflected from said continuous diaphragm, whereby the quantity of electromagnetic radiation received by said receiving means is a function of the displacement of said continuous diaphragm in response to said tissue stress caused by said intra-arterial blood pressure of said artery. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. For use in a system for noninvasively determining the intra-arterial blood pressure of a patient, a tissue contact stress sensor for generating a tissue contact stress signal indicative of said intra-arterial blood pressure and a correction signal for compensating for errors in said tissue contact stress signal caused by temperature drift and aging of said sensor, said system comprising:
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a continuous diaphragm having a responsive portion and a non-responsive portion, means for placing said responsive portion against a patient'"'"'s tissue which covers an underlying artery, said responsive portion adapted to deform in response to said intra-arterial blood pressure of said artery, semiconductor means, spaced apart from and placed in close proximity to said continuous diaphragm, for irradiating said continuous diaphragm with electromagnetic radiation, means for receiving said electromagnetic radiation reflected from said responsive portion and said non-responsive portion of said continuous diaphragm, means for converting said radiation received from said responsive portion of said continuous diaphragm into a tissue contact stress signal representing intra-arterial blood pressure data, means for converting said radiation received from said non-responsive portion of said continuous diaphragm into a correction signal which represents reference data which is indicative of at least one reference factor, and means for combining said correction signal with said tissue contact stress signal thereby minimizing the dependence of said blood pressure data on at least one of said reference factors. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification