Method and apparatus for monitoring intravenous (IV) drug concentration using exhaled breath
First Claim
1. A method for determining the blood level concentration of at least one agent selected from the group consisting of anesthetics, analgesics, muscle relaxants, sedatives, and anxiolytics, wherein the agent is administered into a patient'"'"'s bloodstream, comprising:
- sampling a patient'"'"'s expired breath;
analyzing the breath for concentration of at least one substance indicative of the agent using sensor technology;
determining at least one blood level concentration based on the concentration of at least one substrance indicative of the at least one agent; and
using a flow sensor to detect starting and completion of exhalation during said sampling step.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system is provided for detecting the depth of anesthesia wherein at least one anesthetic agent is absorbed in a patient'"'"'s bloodstream during the administration of anesthesia, which includes sampling a patient'"'"'s expired breath; analyzing the breath for concentration of at least one substance indicative of the anesthetic agent using sensor technology such as free (unmetabolized) anesthetic agent or its metabolites; determining the effect of the agent based on that concentration; and determining depth of anesthesia based thereon. The method also detects endogenous compounds such as ketones and ammonia in exhaled breath as well as other pathologic organisms.
212 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method for determining the blood level concentration of at least one agent selected from the group consisting of anesthetics, analgesics, muscle relaxants, sedatives, and anxiolytics, wherein the agent is administered into a patient'"'"'s bloodstream, comprising:
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sampling a patient'"'"'s expired breath;
analyzing the breath for concentration of at least one substance indicative of the agent using sensor technology;
determining at least one blood level concentration based on the concentration of at least one substrance indicative of the at least one agent; and
using a flow sensor to detect starting and completion of exhalation during said sampling step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. An apparatus for administering intravenous anesthesia to a patient comprising:
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at least one supply of at least one intravenous anesthesia agent;
intravenous delivery means for controllably intravenously delivering said at least one intravenous anesthesia agent to the patent;
a breath analyzer for analyzing the patient'"'"'s breath for concentration of at least one substance indicative of the anesthetic agent in the patient'"'"'s bloodstream and providing a signal to indicate the anesthetic agent concentration delivered to the patient; and
a system controller connected to the intravenous delivery means which receives the signal and controls the amount of anesthetic agent based on the signal.
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33. A method for monitoring perflubron levels in an anemic patient, comprising:
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(i) sampling a patient'"'"'s breath;
(ii) analyzing the breath for concentration of perflubron using sensor technology; and
(iii) calculating the blood concentration of perflubron based on the concentration.
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Specification