Methods and systems for determining fluid content of tissue
First Claim
1. A diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
- one or more antennas configured to be disposed on a thorax of a body of a patient so as to direct radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic waves through a lung in the body and to output signals responsively to the RF electromagnetic waves that have passed through the lung; and
processing circuitry is configured to;
process the signals to determine an effective RF path length of the RF electromagnetic waves,wherein the effective RF path length is defined by the length of time required for the RF electromagnetic waves to pass through at least one of the thorax to an antenna and pass through to the lung and reflect therefrom to an antenna,compare the effective RF path length to one or more stored RF path length values corresponding to identified levels of fluid content of lungs, anddetermine fluid content of the lung based on the comparison.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the subject application include a diagnostic apparatus including one or more antennas disposed on a thorax of a living body to direct radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic waves through tissue and output signals responsively to the waves that have passed through the tissue. The apparatus may also include processing circuitry configured to process the signals over time so as to measure one or more RF path characteristics of the RF electromagnetic waves. The RF path length may be defined by a length of time required for the RF waves to pass through the thorax to an antenna and/or pass to tissue and reflect therefrom to an antenna, based on the path characteristic to assess a fluid content of the tissue.
-
Citations
14 Claims
-
1. A diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
-
one or more antennas configured to be disposed on a thorax of a body of a patient so as to direct radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic waves through a lung in the body and to output signals responsively to the RF electromagnetic waves that have passed through the lung; and processing circuitry is configured to; process the signals to determine an effective RF path length of the RF electromagnetic waves, wherein the effective RF path length is defined by the length of time required for the RF electromagnetic waves to pass through at least one of the thorax to an antenna and pass through to the lung and reflect therefrom to an antenna, compare the effective RF path length to one or more stored RF path length values corresponding to identified levels of fluid content of lungs, and determine fluid content of the lung based on the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A method for diagnosis, comprising:
-
directing radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic waves from one or more antennas disposed on a thorax of a body of a patient so that the RF electromagnetic waves pass through or reflect off a lung in the body; outputting signals responsively to the RF electromagnetic waves that have passed through the lung; processing the signals over time so as to measure an effective RF path length of the RF electromagnetic waves, wherein the effective RF path length is defined by a length of time required for the RF electromagnetic waves to pass through at least one of the thorax to an antenna and pass through to the lung and reflect therefrom to an antenna; comparing the measured effective RF path length to one or more stored RF path length values corresponding to identified levels of fluid content of lungs; and determining fluid content of the lung based on the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
Specification