Needle-free blood draw

• US 9,737,251 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2014
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verily Life Sciences LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Peeters, Eric, Smith, Peter H.
• Primary Examiner(s): McCrosky, David J
• Application Number:
  US14/289,362
• Publication Number:
  US 20150342509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• Field of Search: 600573, 600575, 600576, 600578, 604140-148, 4352853
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150022 for capillary blood or interstitial fluid
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150099 by negative pressure, other than vacuum extraction into a syringe by pulling on the piston rod or into pre-evacuated tubes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150175 Adjustment of penetration depth
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150343 Collection vessels for collecting blood samples from the skin surface, e.g. test tubes, cuvettes sampling from within body cavities A61B5/150015, A61B5/150045
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15115 Driving means for propelling the piercing element to pierce the skin, e.g. comprising mechanisms based on shape memory alloys, magnetism, solenoids, piezoelectric effect, biased elements, resilient elements, vacuum or compressed fluids
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15125 comprising a vacuum or compressed fluids
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15134 Bladeless capillary blood sampling devices, i.e. devices for perforating the skin in order to obtain a blood sample but not using a blade, needle, canula, or lancet, e.g. by laser perforation, suction or pressurized fluids
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1514 by use of gaseous agents, e.g. using suction aspiration or pressurized gas

Abstract

A system for needle-free drawing of blood is disclosed. A device can include an evacuated negative-pressure barrel with a membrane sealing an aperture at a distal end, and a housing affixed to a proximal end. An accelerator barrel can be positioned within the negative-pressure barrel and fixed to the housing, with an open proximal end in a chamber in the housing, and an open distal end aligned with the aperture. The chamber can be filled with pressurized gas, and a trigger valve can hydrostatically separate the chamber from the open proximal end of the accelerator barrel. A micro-particle positioned within the accelerator barrel can be accelerated to high speed by an abrupt surge of gas by releasing the trigger valve. The micro-particle can attain enough momentum to pierce the aperture membrane and penetrate adjacent dermal tissue. A resulting micro-emergence of blood can be drawn into the negative pressure barrel.

Claims

1. A hand-portable device comprising:

an evacuated negative-pressure barrel with an aperture membrane sealing an aperture at a distal end of the evacuated negative-pressure barrel, and a housing affixed to, and sealing, a proximal end of the evacuated negative-pressure barrel;

an accelerator barrel positioned lengthwise within the evacuated negative-pressure barrel with an open proximal end fixed to the housing and opening into a chamber within the housing, and having an open distal end proximate to, and aligned with, the aperture;

a high-pressure gas source configured for filling the chamber with pressurized gas;

a trigger valve situated between, and forming a hydrostatic boundary between, the chamber and the open proximal end of the accelerator barrel;

a single micro-particle positioned within the accelerator barrel at a launch point proximate to the trigger valve; and

a trigger-valve release actuator configured for abruptly opening of the trigger valve to abruptly release the pressurized gas from the chamber and into the open proximal end of the accelerator barrel,

wherein, the abruptly released pressurized gas is configured to accelerate the single micro-particle from the launch point to the open distal end of the accelerator barrel and through the aperture with sufficient momentum to pierce through the aperture membrane and penetrate a sufficient depth of dermal tissue proximate to the distal end of the evacuated negative-pressure barrel to induce a micro-emergence of blood at the dermal tissue surface,

wherein, residual negative pressure within the evacuated negative-pressure barrel is configured to draw at least a portion of blood from the micro-emergence into the evacuated negative-pressure barrel through the pierced aperture membrane,

wherein the accelerator barrel comprises an inner cylindrical channel having a constant interior cross-sectional shape between the launch point and the open distal end,

and wherein the single micro-particle has an exterior cross-sectional shape configured to be a flush fit to the constant interior cross-sectional shape of the channel and at the same time not impede free longitudinal motion of the single micro-particle through the channel.

2. The hand-portable device of claim 1, wherein the hand-portable device is configured to be one of a hand-held device or a wearable device.

3. The hand-portable device of claim 1, wherein the negative pressure barrel and the accelerator barrel are both curved along a co-linear, lengthwise direction.

4. The hand-portable device of claim 1, wherein the high-pressure gas source is selected from a list consisting of a container of compressed gas, a chemically-reactive gas pressure generator apparatus, an electro-chemical gas pressure generator apparatus, and a mechanical pressure generator.

5. The hand-portable device of claim 1, wherein the interior cross-sectional shape of the inner cylindrical channel is circular and the exterior cross-sectional shape of the single micro-particle is substantially circular.

6. The hand-portable device of claim 5, wherein the inner cylindrical channel has an inner diameter in a range from 10 μ

m to 250 μ

m,

and wherein the substantially circular cross-sectional shape of the single micro-particle is circumscribed by a circle having a diameter in a range from 10 μ

m to 250 μ

m.

7. The hand-portable device of claim 1, wherein the inner cylindrical channel comprises a nozzle segment situated between the launch point and the trigger valve, the nozzle segment being configured to cause the abruptly released pressurized gas entering from the chamber to exit the nozzle segment toward the single micro-particle as a supersonic flow.

8. The hand-portable device of claim 1, wherein the inner cylindrical channel comprises a taper segment situated between the launch point and the trigger valve, the taper segment forming a backstop configured to prevent motion of the single micro-particle from the launch point toward the trigger valve.

9. The hand-portable device of claim 1, wherein the trigger valve comprises a trigger barrier configured to form a hydrostatic seal between the chamber and the open proximal end of the accelerator barrel,

and wherein the trigger-valve release actuator comprises a rupture actuator configured for abruptly rupturing the trigger barrier to abruptly break the hydrostatic seal.

10. The hand-portable device of claim 1, further comprising a reservoir at the distal end of the negative-pressure barrel configured for collecting and holding the at least a portion of blood drawn.

11. The hand-portable device of claim 1, wherein the single micro-particle comprises an agglomeration of nanoparticles bound together with a biodegradable matrix.

12. The hand-portable device of claim 11, wherein the nanoparticles comprise nano-sized gold particles and the biodegradable matrix comprises polylactic-co-glycolic acid.