Point-of-care pathogen monitoring devices and systems

• US 9,248,249 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2009
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Li, Youzhi, Chen, Bo
• Primary Examiner(s): EISEMAN, ADAM JARED
• Application Number:
  US12/480,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20100307507A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,430 Days
• Field of Search: 600/573, 600/581, 600/584, 435/5
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 10/0051 for taking saliva or sputum samples devices for receiving spittle A61J9/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0061 Alimentary tract secretions, e.g. biliary, gastric, intestinal, pancreatic secretions
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0434 Cuffs
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0463 combined with suction tubes, catheters or the like; Outside connections
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0479 above the cuff, e.g. giving access to the upper trachea
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0484 at the distal end
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0486 Multi-lumen tracheal tubes

Abstract

Various embodiments of a secretion collection and/or sample analysis device are provided for point-of-care collection and/or analysis of secretions collected from the airways of intubated patients. The disclosed embodiments include a variety of placements of the device with respect to a tracheal tube that include in a secretion reservoir, between an evacuation conduit and the secretion reservoir, and connected in series after the evacuation conduit and the secretion reservoir. Certain embodiments may include a lab-on-a-chip device that analyzes secretions via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based DNA sequencing.

Claims

1. A tracheal intubation system comprising:

a tracheal tube comprising a tubular body having an open distal end configured to allow airflow to and from a patient at a point of care, and a suction lumen disposed in a wall of the tubular body;

an evacuation conduit configured to receive aspirated secretions from the suction lumen at a plurality of time points;

a plurality of collection wells coupled to the evacuation conduit, wherein a predetermined volume of the aspirated secretions from individual time points is configured to be directed towards respective individual collection wells of the plurality of collection wells;

a secretion reservoir coupled to the plurality of collection wells, wherein the secretion reservoir is configured to receive a remaining volume of the aspirated secretions from the individual time points, such that only a portion of the aspirated secretions from an individual time point is directed towards a respective individual collection well;

an analysis device at the point of care that in operation analyzes a plurality of aspirated secretion samples from the respective individual collection wells, each individual sample of the plurality of aspirated secretion samples corresponding to the aspirated secretions received by the evacuation conduit at each of the plurality of time points; and

a purging system configured to purge the evacuation conduit and the suction lumen of residual secretions between each of the plurality of time points.

2. The tracheal intubation system of claim 1, comprising a suction device configured to apply vacuum to the evacuation conduit such that the aspirated secretions are drawn through the suction lumen and the evacuation conduit.

3. The tracheal intubation system of claim 1, wherein the analysis device is connected in series with the secretion reservoir and the evacuation conduit.

4. The tracheal intubation system of claim 1, wherein the analysis device is a lab-on-a-chip.

5. The tracheal intubation system of claim 1, wherein the analysis device is configured to perform a polymerase chain reaction.

6. The tracheal intubation system of claim 1, wherein the analysis device is configured to indicate the presence or absence of pathogens at a point of care.

7. The tracheal intubation system of claim 1, comprising an analysis system configured to receive the analysis device, perform an analysis, and output results of the analysis at the point-of-care.

8. The tracheal intubation system of claim 1, wherein the purging system is configured to purge the evacuation conduit and the suction lumen by establishing liquid or gas flow through the evacuation conduit and the suction lumen between each of the plurality of time points.

9. The tracheal intubation system of claim 1, wherein the evacuation conduit is coupled to the secretion reservoir and the plurality of collection wells.