System and method for controlling pressure in a surgical tourniquet
First Claim
1. A surgical tourniquet controller, said controller comprising:
- a pressure source, said pressure source supplying a pressure medium at a sufficient pressure to pressurize a pressure cuff being used as a surgical tourniquet;
a pressure port, said pressure port allowing a pressure medium to be supplied to a pressure cuff;
a source valve, said source valve interposed between said pressure source and said pressure port;
an occlusion sensing means for detecting blood flow past a pressure cuff; and
a processor, said processor communicably connected to said occlusion sensing means, said processor further communicably connected to said source valve;
wherein said processor instructs said source valve to increase the pressure in a pressure cuff when said occlusion sensing means detects blood flow past the pressure cuff.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method of controlling the pressure within a pressure cuff of a surgical tourniquet so as selectively to occlude blood flow within a portion of a limb of a patient, wherein a sensor determines when flow past the tourniquet is occurring so that corrective action may be taken, such as by increasing the pressure in the tourniquet or by notifying an operator of the flow past the tourniquet. The present invention may use an acoustic sensor to detect Korotkoff sounds indicating incipient blood flow past the tourniquet. When such signals are detected, the tourniquet controller may either incrementally increase the pressure in the tourniquet, or if a threshold would be exceeded by such an increase, signal an alarm indicative of the blood flow.
49 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A surgical tourniquet controller, said controller comprising:
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a pressure source, said pressure source supplying a pressure medium at a sufficient pressure to pressurize a pressure cuff being used as a surgical tourniquet; a pressure port, said pressure port allowing a pressure medium to be supplied to a pressure cuff; a source valve, said source valve interposed between said pressure source and said pressure port; an occlusion sensing means for detecting blood flow past a pressure cuff; and a processor, said processor communicably connected to said occlusion sensing means, said processor further communicably connected to said source valve; wherein said processor instructs said source valve to increase the pressure in a pressure cuff when said occlusion sensing means detects blood flow past the pressure cuff. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for controlling a surgical tourniquet, said method comprising the steps of:
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inflating a pressure cuff to an initial pressure; incrementally decreasing pressure in the pressure cuff until flow is detected by a flow sensor past the pressure cuff; increasing the pressure in the pressure cuff a pre-set amount; monitoring the flow sensor to detect flow past the pressure cuff; and when flow is detected past said pressure cuff, incrementally increasing pressure in said pressure cuff until flow is no longer detected. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification