Apparatus for intravenous regional anesthesia
First Claim
1. Apparatus for monitoring the administration of liquid anesthesia in a portion of a patient'"'"'s limb distal to a cuff, comprising in combination:
- (a) applied pressure transducing means for generating an applied pressure signal representative of a pressure applied to a limb by a cuff which encircles the limb and applies pressure to the limb;
(b) anesthetic pressure sensing means for sensing the pressure of anesthetic liquid in a vein distal to the cuff and for generating an anesthetic liquid pressure signal indicative of the pressure;
(c) alarm mean for determining the difference between the pressures corresponding to the applied pressure signal and the anesthetic liquid pressure signal, for comparing the difference therebetween to a preassigned safety limit, and for producing an alarm signal when the difference is less than the preassigned safety limit; and
anesthetic delivery means for introducing anesthetic liquid into the vein in the limb, the anesthetic delivery means being responsive to the alarm signal for stopping the introduction of anesthetic liquid when the alarm signal is produced.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for assisting in the administration of anesthesia in a portion of a patient'"'"'s limb distal to a cuff comprises in combination: applied pressure transducing means for generating an applied pressure signal representative of a pressure applied to a limb by a cuff which encircles the limb and applies pressure to the limb; anesthetic pressure sensing means for sensing the pressure of anesthetic liquid in a vein distal to the cuff and for generating an anesthetic liquid pressure signal indicative of the pressure; and alarm means for producing an alarm signal when the difference between the pressures corresponding to the applied pressure signal and the anesthetic liquid pressure signal is less than a preassigned safety limit. The apparatus may include anesthetic control means responsive to the alarm signal for stopping the introduction of anesthetic liquid when the difference is less than a preassigned limit, anesthetic concentration sensing means for estimating the concentration of anesthetic liquid in the blood, and anesthetic level estimation means for estimating the level of anesthesia in the portion of the limb distal to the cuff.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. Apparatus for monitoring the administration of liquid anesthesia in a portion of a patient'"'"'s limb distal to a cuff, comprising in combination:
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(a) applied pressure transducing means for generating an applied pressure signal representative of a pressure applied to a limb by a cuff which encircles the limb and applies pressure to the limb; (b) anesthetic pressure sensing means for sensing the pressure of anesthetic liquid in a vein distal to the cuff and for generating an anesthetic liquid pressure signal indicative of the pressure; (c) alarm mean for determining the difference between the pressures corresponding to the applied pressure signal and the anesthetic liquid pressure signal, for comparing the difference therebetween to a preassigned safety limit, and for producing an alarm signal when the difference is less than the preassigned safety limit; and anesthetic delivery means for introducing anesthetic liquid into the vein in the limb, the anesthetic delivery means being responsive to the alarm signal for stopping the introduction of anesthetic liquid when the alarm signal is produced.
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2. Apparatus for administering anesthesia in a portion of a patient'"'"'s limb distal to a cuff, comprising in combination:
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(a) a cuff for encircling a limb and applying pressure to the encircled limb to restrict flow past the cuff proximally of liquid in a vein in the portion of the limb distal to the cuff; (b) applied pressure transducing means for generating an applied pressure signal representative of a pressure applied to the vein by the cuff; (c) anesthetic delivery means for introducing anesthetic liquid into the vein distal to the cuff and for generating a delivery pressure signal indicative of the pressure at which the liquid is introduced into the vein; and (d) alarm means for determining the difference between the pressures corresponding to the applied pressure signal and the delivery pressure signal, for comparing the difference therebetween to a preassigned safety limit, and for producing an alarm signal when the difference is less than the preassigned safety limit.
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3. Apparatus for controlling the containment and release of anesthetic liquid in a vein of a patient'"'"'s limb distal to a pressurizing cuff comprising:
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(a) a pressurizing cuff for substantially encircling a limb and applying pressure to a vein in the encircled limb to restrict flow past the cuff proximally of anesthetic liquid contained in a vein from the portion of the limb distal to the cuff; (b) anesthetic concentration sensing means for estimating the concentration of anesthetic liquid in blood and for producing an anesthetic concentration signal indicative of the concentration; and (c) cuff pressure control means responsive to the anesthetic concentration signal for controlling the pressure applied by the cuff to the limb. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. Apparatus for establishing a desired level of anesthesia in a portion of a limb, comprising:
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(a) a pressurizing cuff for substantially encircling a limb and applying pressure to a vein in the encircled limb to restrict flow past the cuff proximally of liquid in the vein in the portion of the limb distal to the cuff; b) anesthetic drug delivery means for introducing an anesthetic liquid into a vein distal to the cuff; (c) anesthetic level estimation means for estimating a level of anesthesia in the limb and for producing an anesthetic level signal representative of the estimated level of anesthesia; and (d) anesthetic control means responsive to the anesthetic level signal for determining the difference between the anesthetic level signal and a reference signal and for producing the anesthetic delivery signal when the difference is determined to be greater than a predetermined difference threshold. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. Apparatus for controlling the containment and release of anesthetic liquid in a vein of a patient'"'"'s limb, comprising:
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(a) pressure application means for applying pressure to a vein in a limb to restrict flow proximally past the pressure application means of anesthetic liquid contained in the vein in the portion of the limb distal to the pressure application means; (b) anesthetic concentration sensing means for estimating the concentration of anesthetic liquid in blood proximal to the cuff and for producing an anesthetic concentration signal indicative of the concentration; and (c) applied pressure control means responsive to the anesthetic concentration signal for controlling the pressure applied by pressure application means to the vein in the limb. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification