Blood vessel sizing device

• US 9,375,167 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2014
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sizer LLC
• Original Assignee: Sizer LLC
• Inventors: Park, Richard B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cattungal, Sanjay
• Application Number:
  US14/248,101
• Publication Number:
  US 20140221874A1
• Time in Patent Office: 812 Days
• Field of Search: 600407-430, 378162-165
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3966 Radiopaque markers visible in an X-ray image
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3991 having specific anchoring means to fixate the marker to the tissue, e.g. hooks
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0412 Low-profile patch shaped housings
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02007 Evaluating blood vessel condition, e.g. elasticity, compliance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1075 for measuring dimensions by non-invasive methods, e.g. for determining thickness of tissue layer A61B8/0858 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/504 for diagnosis of blood vessels, e.g. by angiography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5217 extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/39 Markers, e.g. radio-opaque or breast lesions markers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

Medical devices and methods for determining the size of blood vessels are disclosed. In one implementation, a blood vessel sizing device is configured for placement on an area of skin of a patient. The device includes a plurality of radiopaque concentric-circle elements. In one implementation, a blood vessel sizing method includes placing a marker having a plurality of concentric-circle elements on the skin of a patient, imaging a blood vessel of the patient and the device, and comparing the imaged blood vessel to the imaged circles to determine the blood vessel size, the concentric-circle elements allowing a determination of size without errors of parallax.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor are configured to perform at least:

receiving data corresponding to a biological feature present in radiological image data;

determining a dimensional property of the feature;

identifying one or more elements from the image data corresponding to a plurality of radiopaque, concentric-circle elements of a blood vessel sizing device positioned on an area of skin of a patient;

identifying a dimensional property for each of the identified one or more elements;

determining a longest axis of the identified elements;

comparing the determined dimensional property to the identified one or more elements, along the determined longest axis; and

converting the determined dimensional property into a true dimension value for communication to a user.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify one or more radiopaque symbols corresponding to the one or more dimensional properties of the elements.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more elements identified from the image data are located on a base structure of a device located on the area of skin of the patient, wherein the base structure has a thickness of less than 1.0 millimeters.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to at least:

after receiving data corresponding to the biological feature present in the radiological image data, removing a non-adhesive tab structure projecting from a side of the base structure, for facilitating facile removal of the device from the area of skin of the patient.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to at least:

uniquely identify the device by using a radiopaque unique identifier on the base structure.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the radiopaque unique identifier comprises a machine-readable barcode.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising:

after receiving data corresponding to the biological feature present in the radiological image data, removing a non-adhesive tab area on a back surface of the base structure, for facilitating facile removal of the base structure from the area of skin of the patient.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the radiopaque location marker has a surface area of between 18 and 22 square millimeters.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the base structure comprises a polymeric material.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the base structure is substantially transparent to light with a wavelength in the visible spectrum.