Method and system for monitoring oxygenation levels of a compartment for detecting conditions of a compartment syndrome

• US 8,694,068 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2011
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: J&m Shuler, Inc.
• Original Assignee: J&m Shuler, Inc.
• Inventors: Shuler, Michael Simms
• Primary Examiner(s): Natnithithadha, Navin
• Assistant Examiner(s): WEARE, MEREDITH H
• Application Number:
  US13/279,298
• Publication Number:
  US 20120108919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 898 Days
• Field of Search: 600/483, 600/323, 600/324, 600473-481, 600500-507
• US Class Current: 600/324
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/04 Arrangements of multiple sensors of the same type
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0215 by means inserted into the body catheters A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/022 by applying pressure to close blood vessels, e.g. against the skin; Ophthalmodynamometers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/03 Detecting, measuring or recording fluid pressure within the body other than blood pressure, e.g. cerebral pressure; Measuring pressure in body tissues or organs A61B5/205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14507 specially adapted for measuring characteristics of body fluids other than blood devices for taking samples of body liquids A61B10/0045
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14542 for measuring blood gases A61B5/14551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1455 using optical sensors, e.g. spectral photometrical oximeters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14552 Details of sensors specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14557 specially adapted to extracorporeal circuits
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/443 Evaluating skin constituents, e.g. elastin, melanin, water
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4519 Muscles A61B5/389, A61B5/224 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6828 Leg
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/684 Indicating the position of the sensor on the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7246 using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7271 Specific aspects of physiological measurement analysis A61B5/316, A61B5/349 and A61B5/374 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 : Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 : using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 : using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 : Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 : for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

A method and system for continually monitoring oxygenation levels in real-time in compartments of an animal limb, such as in a human leg or a human thigh or a forearm, can be used to assist in the diagnosis of a compartment syndrome. The method and system can include one or more near infrared compartment sensors in which each sensor can be provided with a compartment alignment mechanism and a central scan depth marker so that each sensor may be precisely positioned over a compartment of a living organism. The method and system can include a device for displaying oxygenation levels corresponding to respective compartment sensors that are measuring oxygenation levels of a compartment of interest. The method and system can also monitor the relationship between blood pressure and oxygenation levels and activate alarms based on predetermined conditions relating to the oxygenation levels or blood pressure or both.

Claims

1. A method for automatically monitoring oxygenation levels of a compartment of a human body for automatically detecting conditions of a compartment syndrome, comprising:

automatically monitoring oxygenation levels of the compartment of injured tissue in a continuous manner with a first sensor;

automatically monitoring oxygenation levels of healthy tissue in a continuous manner with a second sensor, the second sensor detecting systemic perfusion of the human body from the healthy tissue;

automatically monitoring blood pressure of the human body in a continuous manner, the blood pressure comprising diastolic and systolic blood pressure values;

displaying oxygenation levels of the compartment on a display device;

displaying diastolic and systolic blood pressure values simultaneously with the oxygenation levels of the compartment on the display device; and

activating an alarm when both the blood pressure of the human body comprising the diastolic and systolic blood pressure values decreases and oxygenation levels of the first sensor of the compartment start decreasing in value compared to the oxygenation levels of the second sensor for the healthy tissue.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an alignment mechanism on a compartment sensor.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating a running average for the blood pressure and oxygenation levels.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a central scan depth marker on the compartment sensor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein activating an alarm further comprises activating an alarm that generates sound.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein activating an alarm further comprises activating an alarm that produces one or more alerts on a display device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating and displaying a mean arterial pressure (MAP) on the display device.

8. A system for automatically monitoring oxygenation levels of a compartment of a human body for automatically detecting conditions of a compartment syndrome, the system comprising:

a plurality of sensors for automatically detecting oxygenation levels of the human body in a continuous manner;

a blood pressure device for automatically sensing blood pressure of the human body in a continuous manner, the blood pressure comprising diastolic and systolic blood pressure values;

a display device configured for simultaneously displaying the oxygenation levels and diastolic and systolic blood pressure values of the human body; and

a computing device coupled to the sensors, display device, and blood pressure device;

the computing device monitoring oxygenation levels of injured tissue of a compartment from a first sensor of the plurality of sensors;

the computing device monitoring oxygenation levels of healthy tissue from a second sensor of the plurality of sensors;

the computing device monitoring the blood pressure of the human body;

the computing device increasing a frequency at which the oxygenation levels and blood pressure are monitored if the oxygenation levels and blood pressure fall within a predetermined range of values;

the computing device activating an alarm when both the blood pressure comprising the diastolic and systolic blood pressure values of the human body decreases and oxygenation levels of the first sensor start decreasing in value compared to the oxygenation levels of the second sensor.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein one or more sensors form an array of sensors.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing device controls a timing for activating respective sensors in order to provide scans of different portions of the human body.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing device calculates a running average for the blood pressure and oxygenation levels.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the alarm comprises at least one of an audible alarm and visual alarm.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing device calculates a mean arterial pressure (MAP) that is displayed on the display device.

14. A system for automatically monitoring oxygenation levels of a compartment of a human body for automatically detecting conditions of a compartment syndrome, the system comprising:

a plurality of sensors for automatically detecting oxygenation levels of the human body in a continuous manner;

a blood pressure device for automatically sensing blood pressure of the human body in a continuous manner, the blood pressure comprising diastolic and systolic blood pressure values;

a display device configured for simultaneously displaying the oxygenation levels and diastolic and systolic blood pressure values of the human body; and

a computing device coupled to the sensors, display device, and blood pressure device;

the computing device monitoring oxygenation levels of an injured portion of the human body from a first sensor of the plurality of sensors;

the computing device monitoring oxygenation levels of an uninjured portion of the human body from a second sensor of the plurality of sensors;

the computing device monitoring the blood pressure of the human body and comparing oxygenation levels between the injured portion of the human body and the uninjured portion of the human body, the computing device activating at least one of an audible alarm and visual alarm when both the blood pressure comprising the diastolic and systolic blood pressure values of the human body decreases and oxygenation levels of the first sensor start decreasing in value and when the oxygenation levels of the first sensor start decreasing compared to the oxygenation levels of the second sensor.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing device activates an alarm when the blood pressure and oxygenation levels approach predefined levels.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing device controls a timing for activating respective sensors in order to provide scans of different portions of the human body.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing device calculates a running average for the blood pressure and oxygenation levels.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing device calculates a mean arterial pressure (MAP) that is displayed on the display device.