Indicators for a spectrophotometric system
First Claim
1. A method for non-invasively determining the blood oxygen saturation level within a subject'"'"'s tissue, using a spectrophotometric system that includes a processor, a visual display, and a plurality of sensors, each sensor having at least one light source operable to transmit a light signal into the subject'"'"'s tissue, and at least one light detector operable to sense the light signal after passage through the subject'"'"'s tissue and to produce signal data representative of the sensed light signal, the method comprising the steps of:
- positioning the sensors relative to the subject to sense separate regions of the subject;
sensing the subject'"'"'s tissue and determining an absolute oxygen saturation level for each region using sensed signal data from each region;
displaying the oxygen saturation level for a selected region, or an average of the oxygen saturation levels of all of the regions, on the visual display;
comparing the absolute oxygen saturation level of each region to a predetermined value that is based on established data, and which predetermined value is an absolute value independent of oxygen saturation values determined from the subject'"'"'s tissue, and determining if the absolute oxygen saturation level of each region represents an adverse condition relative to the predetermined value;
replacing the oxygen saturation value of the selected region or average value then currently displayed with the absolute oxygen saturation value of the region having the most adverse oxygen saturation value relative to the other regions.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A near-infrared spectrophotometric system (e.g., a cerebral oximeter) includes a sensor portion and a monitor portion. The monitor portion includes a processor that runs an algorithm which utilizes the amount of detected light to determine the value of the oxygen concentration (e.g., the absolute level of oxygen concentration). The monitor portion also includes a visual display that displays the determined oxygen concentration values in various formats. The monitor portion may also include an audible device (e.g., a speaker), that provides audible indications of the determined oxygen concentration values. Various visual indicators may include, for example, color-coded graphs of the determined oxygenation values to alert the system user, for example, whether one hemisphere of the brain, or one or more regions of the brain, is in danger of adverse and potentially permanent damage. Also, data may be pre-processed by selecting the most clinically concerning sensor value (e.g., the sensor with the lowest value), and displaying only that sensor value and its identification on the display screen. Alternatively, an average value of multiple sensor measurements may be displayed. This reduces screen clutter and increases the speed of interpretation by the system user. Also, all sensor values may be averaged, and the average value displayed. The determined oxygenation values may also be provided in an audible format.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A method for non-invasively determining the blood oxygen saturation level within a subject'"'"'s tissue, using a spectrophotometric system that includes a processor, a visual display, and a plurality of sensors, each sensor having at least one light source operable to transmit a light signal into the subject'"'"'s tissue, and at least one light detector operable to sense the light signal after passage through the subject'"'"'s tissue and to produce signal data representative of the sensed light signal, the method comprising the steps of:
-
positioning the sensors relative to the subject to sense separate regions of the subject; sensing the subject'"'"'s tissue and determining an absolute oxygen saturation level for each region using sensed signal data from each region; displaying the oxygen saturation level for a selected region, or an average of the oxygen saturation levels of all of the regions, on the visual display; comparing the absolute oxygen saturation level of each region to a predetermined value that is based on established data, and which predetermined value is an absolute value independent of oxygen saturation values determined from the subject'"'"'s tissue, and determining if the absolute oxygen saturation level of each region represents an adverse condition relative to the predetermined value; replacing the oxygen saturation value of the selected region or average value then currently displayed with the absolute oxygen saturation value of the region having the most adverse oxygen saturation value relative to the other regions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method for non-invasively determining the blood oxygen saturation level within a subject'"'"'s tissue, using a spectrophotometric system that includes a processor, a visual display, and a plurality of sensors, the method comprising the steps of:
-
positioning the sensors relative to the subject to sense separate regions of the subject; sensing the subject'"'"'s tissue and determining an absolute oxygen saturation level for each region using signal data produced from each region; providing a predetermined value for comparison with the absolute oxygen saturation level of each region, which predetermined value is based on established data, and which predetermined value varies depending on a temperature of the subject; comparing the absolute oxygen saturation level of each region to a predetermined value, and determining if the absolute oxygen saturation level of each region represents an adverse condition relative to the predetermined value; and selectively displaying the absolute oxygen saturation level for one or more regions on the visual display. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A method for non-invasively determining the blood oxygen saturation level within a subject'"'"'s tissue, using a spectrophotometric system that includes a processor, a visual display, and a plurality of sensors, the method comprising the steps of:
-
positioning the sensors relative to the subject to sense separate regions of the subject; spectrophotometrically sensing the subject'"'"'s tissue and determining an absolute oxygen saturation level for each region using sensed signal data from each region; displaying the absolute oxygen saturation level for a selected region, or an average of the absolute oxygen saturation levels of all of the regions, on the visual display; comparing the absolute oxygen saturation level of the regions relative to each other, selecting a maximum absolute oxygen saturation value and a minimum absolute oxygen saturation value, and determining a difference between the maximum and minimum values; and comparing the difference to a predetermined value, and if the difference exceeds the predetermined value, replacing the absolute oxygen saturation value of the selected region or average value then currently displayed with the minimum absolute oxygen saturation value.
-
Specification