Atraumatic blood suction system
First Claim
1. A method of transporting surgical blood under vacuum, comprising:
- providing an suction line having a suction tip for engaging the surgical blood;
providing a pump for supplying a negative pressure to said suction line;
providing a negative pressure on the suction line to suction blood by operating the pump at a first pump speed;
sensing the air-to-blood ratio in the suction line;
sensing a negative pressure level in the suction line; and
operating the pump at a second, different pump speed in response to the sensed air-to-blood ratio and the sensed negative pressure level.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automatic control system and methods of automatic control for reducing the blood/air interface for suction from the left ventricle and/or operating field are provided by the present invention. A system in accord with the present invention will have a pressure sensor or monitor, a pump, and a bubble or air sensor to detect the ratio of air-to-blood in the sucker lines. The system will also have a processing means connected to the pressure sensor, pump, and air sensor for automatically adjusting the pump speed in response to the sensed pressure and/or the sensed air-to-blood ratio, and may have a display and the appropriate manual controls to manually adjust the pump speed also connected to the processing means. A method in accord with the present invention will provide for the sensing of the pressure and the air-to-blood to blood ratio and adjusting the pump speed in accord therewith so as to continuously maintain a suction level that will be adequate to remove the necessary and desired amount of blood without damage to surrounding tissue. In particular, the system will used sensed air-to-blood ratios to adjust the pump speed to desired levels so as to maintain a continuous suction at low pressure levels, varying the pump speed as needed to do so, as opposed to the single speed, high pressure provided by present day blood collection systems.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method of transporting surgical blood under vacuum, comprising:
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providing an suction line having a suction tip for engaging the surgical blood;
providing a pump for supplying a negative pressure to said suction line;
providing a negative pressure on the suction line to suction blood by operating the pump at a first pump speed;
sensing the air-to-blood ratio in the suction line;
sensing a negative pressure level in the suction line; and
operating the pump at a second, different pump speed in response to the sensed air-to-blood ratio and the sensed negative pressure level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for removing blood during surgery from the surgical field, said method including:
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providing a suction line and a pump for supplying a negative pressure to said suction line;
establishing a predetermined desired minimum negative pressure level for the suction line;
providing suction in the surgical field with a suction line;
monitoring the negative pressure in the suction line;
establishing a predetermined desired maximum air-to-blood ratio in the suction line;
monitoring the air-to-blood ratio in the suction line; and
adjusting the speed of the pump in response to the monitored negative pressure and the monitored air-to-blood ratio. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for reducing hemolysis and tissue damage during surgery, said method comprising:
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collecting blood with a suction line;
providing a pump for supplying a negative pressure to said suction line;
monitoring the air-to-blood ratio in the suction line;
monitoring the negative pressure in the suction line; and
adjusting the speed of the pump in response to monitored changes in negative pressure and in response to monitored changes in the air-to-blood ratio. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A method of transporting surgical blood under vacuum, comprising:
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providing an suction line having a suction tip for engaging the surgical blood;
providing a pump for supplying a negative pressure to said suction line;
providing a negative pressure on the suction line to suction blood by operating the pump at a first, low pump speed;
sensing the air-to-blood ratio in the suction line;
sensing a negative pressure level in the suction line; and
operating the pump at a second, higher pump speed in response to a decrease in sensed air-to-blood ratio and an increase in sensed negative pressure level. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for removing blood during surgery from the surgical field, said method including:
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providing a suction line and a pump for supplying a negative pressure to said suction line;
establishing a predetermined desired minimum negative pressure level for the suction line;
providing suction in the surgical field with a suction line;
monitoring the negative pressure in the suction line;
establishing a predetermined desired maximum air-to-blood ratio in the suction line;
monitoring the air-to-blood ratio in the suction line; and
increasing the speed of the pump in response to an increase in the monitored negative pressure and a decrease in the monitored air-to-blood ratio. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for reducing hemolysis and tissue damage during surgery, said method comprising:
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collecting blood with a suction line;
providing a pump for supplying a negative pressure to said suction line;
establishing a predetermined desired maximum negative pressure level for the suction line;
monitoring the air-to-blood ratio in the suction line;
monitoring the negative pressure in the suction line; and
adjusting the speed of the pump in response to monitored changes in negative pressure and in response to monitored changes in the air-to-blood ratio such that the negative pressure in the suction line is maintained at a level below the perdetermined desired maximum negative pressure level. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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Specification