Catheter malfunction determinations using physiologic pressure
First Claim
1. A method of identifying the presence of a catheter malfunction in an implanted catheter, the method comprising:
- measuring pressure of a fluid located within a lumen in a catheter implanted in a patient, wherein the lumen extends to an infusion section that is located at a selected internal delivery site in the cerebrospinal fluid of the patient;
developing a pressure modulation profile of the cerebrospinal fluid of the patient based on the measured pressure of the fluid in the lumen, wherein developing the pressure modulation profile is based on measuring the pressure of the fluid in the lumen when the fluid is stationary within the lumen;
comparing the pressure modulation profile to a selected pressure profile, wherein the selected pressure profile includes a physiological pressure modulation; and
determining the existence of a catheter malfunction if the pressure modulation profile does not include a feature of the physiological pressure modulation of the selected pressure profile.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for determining whether an implanted catheter used to deliver fluids to a selected internal delivery site is malfunctioning. The malfunctions may include that the infusion section of the catheter is not located at or has migrated away from the selected internal delivery site, is leaking, is blocked, etc. The determination is made by analyzing the pressure modulation of fluid within the catheter and determining whether the pressure of the fluid in the catheter is modulated by physiologic pressure changes experienced at the selected internal delivery site. The physiologic pressure modulations at the selected internal delivery site may be caused by, e.g., cardiac activity, respiration, changes in patient'"'"'s posture, etc.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method of identifying the presence of a catheter malfunction in an implanted catheter, the method comprising:
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measuring pressure of a fluid located within a lumen in a catheter implanted in a patient, wherein the lumen extends to an infusion section that is located at a selected internal delivery site in the cerebrospinal fluid of the patient; developing a pressure modulation profile of the cerebrospinal fluid of the patient based on the measured pressure of the fluid in the lumen, wherein developing the pressure modulation profile is based on measuring the pressure of the fluid in the lumen when the fluid is stationary within the lumen; comparing the pressure modulation profile to a selected pressure profile, wherein the selected pressure profile includes a physiological pressure modulation; and determining the existence of a catheter malfunction if the pressure modulation profile does not include a feature of the physiological pressure modulation of the selected pressure profile. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 32, 33, 34)
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12. A method of identifying the presence of a catheter malfunction in an implanted catheter, the method comprising:
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measuring fluid pressure of a fluid located within a lumen in a catheter implanted in a patient, wherein the lumen extends to an infusion section that is located at a selected internal delivery site in the patient, wherein the selected internal delivery site is in the intrathecal space of the patient; developing a pressure modulation profile based on the measured fluid pressure of the fluid in the lumen; determining if the pressure modulation profile includes pressure modulation caused by patient cardiac activity by determining if the pressure modulation profile comprises a peak corresponding to the patient'"'"'s cardiac activity; and determining that a catheter complication exists if the pressure modulation profile does not include the pressure modulation caused by the patient cardiac activity. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 35)
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19. A method of identifying the presence of a catheter malfunction in an implanted catheter, the method comprising:
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measuring fluid pressure of a fluid located within a lumen in a catheter implanted in a patient, wherein the lumen extends to an infusion section that is located at a selected internal delivery site in the patient, wherein the selected internal delivery site is in the intrathecal space of the patient; developing a pressure modulation profile based on the measured fluid pressure of the fluid in the lumen; determining if the pressure modulation profile includes pressure modulation caused by patient respiration by determining if the pressure modulation profile comprises a peak corresponding to the patient'"'"'s respiratory activity; and determining that a catheter complication exists if the pressure modulation profile does not include the pressure modulation caused by the patient respiration. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An implantable infusion system comprising:
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a pump mechanism fluidly coupled to a reservoir to receive fluid contained within the reservoir; a catheter comprising a delivery lumen fluidly coupled to the pump mechanism, wherein the delivery lumen extends to an implantable infusion section in the catheter; a pressure sensor positioned to monitor fluid pressure within the delivery lumen of the catheter and provide a pressure signal representative of the fluid pressure; and control electronics connected to receive the pressure signal from the pressure sensor, wherein the control electronics further; develop a pressure modulation profile based on the fluid pressure measured in the delivery lumen; determine if the pressure modulation profile includes a physiological pressure modulation caused by movement between supine and upright postures; and determine that a catheter complication exists if the pressure modulation profile does not include the physiological pressure modulation caused by movement between supine and upright postures. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. An implantable infusion system comprising:
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a pump mechanism fluidly coupled to a reservoir to receive fluid contained within the reservoir; a catheter comprising a delivery lumen fluidly coupled to the pump mechanism, wherein the delivery lumen extends to an implantable infusion section in the catheter; a pressure sensor positioned to monitor fluid pressure within the delivery lumen of the catheter and provide a pressure signal representative of the fluid pressure; and control electronics connected to receive the pressure signal from the pressure sensor, wherein the control electronics further; develop a pressure modulation profile based on the fluid pressure measured in the delivery lumen; determine if the pressure modulation profile includes a pressure modulation caused by patient cardiac activity by determining if the pressure modulation profile comprises a peak corresponding to the patient'"'"'s cardiac activity; and determine that a catheter complication exists if the pressure modulation profile does not include the peak corresponding to modulations caused by the patient cardiac activity. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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30. An implantable infusion system comprising:
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a pump mechanism fluidly coupled to a reservoir to receive fluid contained within the reservoir; a catheter comprising a delivery lumen fluidly coupled to the pump mechanism, wherein the delivery lumen extends to an implantable infusion section in the catheter; a pressure sensor positioned to monitor fluid pressure within the delivery lumen of the catheter and provide a pressure signal representative of the fluid pressure; and control electronics connected to receive the pressure signal from the pressure sensor, wherein the control electronics further; develop a pressure modulation profile based on the fluid pressure measured in the delivery lumen; determine if the pressure modulation profile includes pressure modulation caused by patient respiration by determining if the pressure modulation profile comprises a peak corresponding to the patient'"'"'s respiratory activity; and determine that a catheter complication exists if the pressure modulation profile does not include the peak corresponding to the patient'"'"'s respiratory activity. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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Specification