Systems, methods and apparatus for infusion of radiopharmaceuticals

• US 9,627,097 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2004
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Jackson, Mark Alan, Dhawale, Paritosh Jayant, Lara, Hernan Rodrigo, Brussermann, Michael, Ketzscher, Ulrich
• Primary Examiner(s): Fernandez, Katherine
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOR, HELENE CATHERINE
• Application Number:
  US10/792,683
• Publication Number:
  US 20080242915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,795 Days
• Field of Search: 600425, 600431
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/037 Emission tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/548 Remote control of the apparatus or devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/007 for contrast media
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/172 electrical or electronic A61M5/16804, A61M5/16831 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/1785 comprising radioactive shield means syringe shields or holders for storage of radioactive sources G21F5/018
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/00 Measuring X-radiation, gamma radiation, corpuscular radiation, or cosmic radiation G01T3/00, G01T5/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/17 delivered via infusion or injection
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G21F 5/018 Syringe shields or holders syringe shielding for applying radioactive material to the body A61M5/1785
• CPC Class Codes: G21G 4/08 specially adapted for medical application radiation therapy using radioactive sources A61N5/10
• CPC Class Codes: G21H 5/02 as tracers

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods are provided through which an injector system automates a process of injecting an individual dose from a multiple dose of a radiotracer material. In some embodiments, the injector system includes a first dose calibrator system that receives a multidose vial of a radiotracer, a second dose calibrator system, an injection pump and an intravenous needle. In some embodiments, the first dose calibrator system and the multidose vial have an integrated shape. In some embodiments, the first dose calibrator system includes a pneumatic arm that receives the multidose vial.

Claims

1. A method of preparing an injector system for use by a number of patients, the method comprising:

activating a computer system;

delivering a multidose vial of a radiopharmaceutical to the injector system, wherein the injector system is controlled by the computer system and the multidose vial is configured to dispense multiple doses of the radiopharmaceutical to corresponding multiple patients; and

moving the multidose vial into a dose calibrator system of the injector system, wherein moving the multidose vial into the dose calibrator system comprises positioning the multidose vial beneath the injector system, and raising the mutlidose vial from a container from outside the injector system with an automated arm into the dose calibrator system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating is performed before the delivering.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the radiopharmaceutical further comprises nitrogen-13 ammonia.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the radiopharmaceutical further comprises fluorodeoxyglucose.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the container is a shipping container in which the multidose vial was delivered to a site of the injector system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising extracting an individual dose from the multidose vial into a patient vial.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising delivering the individual dose from the patient vial to a syringe for delivery to a patient.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining if an amount of radioactivity in the patient vial equals an amount of radioactivity removed from the multidose vial, and, if so, adding saline to the patient vial.