Automatic fever abatement system
First Claim
1. A method for treating fever in a warm blooded patient, the method comprising operations of:
- deploying a treatment substance administration path at one or more bodily sites of the patient;
coupling the path to a flow device configured to selectively deliver a treatment substance;
deploying one or more fever characteristic sensors at one or more bodily sites of the patient;
operating the sensors to repeatedly measure fever-affected physiological characteristics of the patient and provide representative machine-readable outputs;
a controller receiving the outputs;
in response to prescribed input including predetermined values of the outputs, the controller computing a supply strategy to regulate the patient'"'"'s temperature according to predetermined specifications, where the predetermined values of the outputs indicate future onset of fever; and
the controller directing the flow device to deliver the treatment substance to the patient via the path according to the computed supply strategy.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A machine-driven automatic fever abatement system treats or prevents fever in hospital patients by administering medication, coolant, or other antipyretic means. The system includes a path, a flow device, a source of treatment substance, fever-characteristic sensors, and a controller. The path may be an open-ended structure, such as a tube, or a closed-ended structure such as a catheter with a sealed, internal path. The path is coupled to one or more bodily sites of the patient. The path is coupled to the flow device, which is itself attached to the source. The source contains a treatment substance such as medication (in the case of an open-ended path) or a coolant (in the case of a closed-ended path). One or more fever characteristic sensors are attached to various sites on the patient, for sensing temperature, metabolic rate, and/or other fever-affected physiological properties.
154 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A method for treating fever in a warm blooded patient, the method comprising operations of:
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deploying a treatment substance administration path at one or more bodily sites of the patient;
coupling the path to a flow device configured to selectively deliver a treatment substance;
deploying one or more fever characteristic sensors at one or more bodily sites of the patient;
operating the sensors to repeatedly measure fever-affected physiological characteristics of the patient and provide representative machine-readable outputs;
a controller receiving the outputs;
in response to prescribed input including predetermined values of the outputs, the controller computing a supply strategy to regulate the patient'"'"'s temperature according to predetermined specifications, where the predetermined values of the outputs indicate future onset of fever; and
the controller directing the flow device to deliver the treatment substance to the patient via the path according to the computed supply strategy.
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2. A signal-bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations for treating fever in a warm-blooded patient, the operations comprising:
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repeatedly receiving machine-readable outputs from one or more fever characteristic sensors deployed at one or more bodily sites of the patient, the outputs representing physiological fever-affected characteristics of the patient;
in response to prescribed input including predetermined values of the outputs, where the predetermined values of the outputs indicate future onset of fever, computing a supply strategy to regulate the patient'"'"'s temperature according to predetermined specifications; and
according to the computed supply strategy, directing a machine-activated flow device to deliver a treatment substance to the patient via a treatment substance administration path deployed at one or more bodily sites of the patient.
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3. A logic circuit of multiple interconnected electrically conductive elements configured to perform operations for treating fever in a warm blooded patient, the operations comprising:
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repeatedly receiving machine-readable outputs from one or more fever characteristic sensors deployed at one or more bodily sites of the patient, the outputs representing physiological fever-affected characteristics of the patient;
in response to prescribed input including predetermined values of the outputs, where the predetermined values of the outputs indicate future onset of fever, computing a supply strategy to regulate the patient'"'"'s temperature according to predetermined specifications; and
according to the computed supply strategy, directing a machine-activated flow device to deliver a treatment substance to the patient via a treatment substance administration path deployed at one or more bodily sites of the patient.
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4. An apparatus to treat fever in a warm blooded patient, the apparatus comprising:
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a treatment substance administration path to direct a treatment substance to one or more bodily sites of the patient;
a flow device configured to selectively deliver the treatment substance from a source to the path;
one or more fever characteristic sensors repeatedly measuring fever-affected physiological characteristics of the patient and providing representative machine-readable outputs; and
a controller coupled to the flow device and the sensors, the controller being configured to regulate body temperature of the patient by performing operations including;
receiving the machine-readable outputs;
responsive to prescribed input including predetermined values of the outputs, the controller being configured such that the predetermined values of the outputs indicate future onset of fever, computing a supply strategy to regulate the patient'"'"'s temperature according to predetermined specifications; and
directing the flow device to deliver the treatment substance to the patient via the path according to the computed supply strategy.
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5. A method for treating fever in a warm blooded patient the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a treatment substance administration path including one of a catheter and tube;
providing a flow device configured to selectively deliver a treatment substance to the path;
deploying the treatment substance administration path to at least one bodily site of the patient, each of the at least one bodily site being disposed either hypodermically beneath the patient'"'"'s dermis or being accessible through a naturally occurring orifice of the patient;
deploying at least one fever-characteristic sensor to at least one bodily sensor site of the patient;
operating the at least one sensor to repeatedly measure at least one fever-affected physiological characteristic of the patient and provide at least one machine-readable sensor output indicative of the at least one fever-affected physiological characteristic; and
operating a controller to receive the at least one sensor output as controller input, to compute a supply strategy to regulate the patient'"'"'s temperature according to predetermined specifications and in response to prescribed controller input including predetermined values of at least one of the at least one sensor output, and to direct the flow device to deliver the treatment substance to the patient via the path according to the computed supply strategy and wherein the predetermined values of the at least one of the at least one sensor output Indicating future onset of fever.
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6. A logic circuit of multiple interconnected electrically conductive elements configured to perform operations for treating fever in a warm-blooded patient, the operations comprising:
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repeatedly receiving as input at least one machine-readable sensor output from at least one fever-characteristic sensor deployed to at least one bodily sensor site of the patient, at least one of the at least one sensor output being indicative of at least one physiological fever-affected characteristic of the patient;
in response to prescribed input including predetermined values of at least one sensor output, computing a supply strategy to regulate the patient'"'"'s temperature according to predetermined specifications; and
according to the computed supply strategy, directing a machine-activated flow device to deliver a treatment substance to the patient via a treatment substance administration path deployed to at least one bodily site of the patient, the treatment substance administration path including one of a catheter and tube, each of the at least one bodily site being disposed either hypodermically beneath the patient'"'"'s dermis or being accessible through a naturally occurring orifice of the patient and wherein the predetermined values of at least one of the at least one sensor output indicating future onset of fever.
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7. An apparatus for treating fever in a warm-blooded patient, the apparatus comprising:
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a treatment substance administration path including one of a catheter and tube, the treatment substance administration path for directing a treatment substance to at least one bodily site of the patient, each of the at least one bodily site being disposed either hypodermically beneath the patient'"'"'s dermis or being accessible through a naturally occurring orifice of the patient;
a flow device configured to selectively deliver the treatment substance from a treatment substance source to the path;
at least one fever-characteristic sensor, each of the at least one sensor repeatedly sensing at least one fever-affected physiological characteristic of the patient and providing at least one machine-readable sensor output indicative of the at least one fever-affected physiological characteristic;
a controller configured to regulate the patient'"'"'s temperature, the controller being coupled with the flow device and with at least one of the at least one sensor, the controller a) receiving as controller input at least one of the at least one machine-readable sensor output, b) responsive to prescribed controller input including at least one predetermined value of at least one sensor output, computing a supply strategy to regulate the patient'"'"'s temperature according to at least one predetermined specification, and c) directing the flow device to deliver the treatment substance to the patient via the path according to the computed supply strategy and wherein at least one predetermined value of at least one of the at least one sensor output indicating future onset of fever.
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Specification