Temperature monitoring of congestive heart failure patients as an indicator of worsening condition
First Claim
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1. A method alerting a worsening of condition in a patient with congestive heart failure, which comprises:
- (a) pre-setting a cut-off point of at least one temperature attribute of hypothermia comprising rate of fall of body temperature relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for such attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, (b) routinely determining that attribute in the patient, and (c) determining from said routine determinations of said attribute whether a condition of congestive heart failure hypothermia has occurred, and if so, (d) issuing an alert warning of said worsening condition.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Indication of worsening health condition in patients with congestive heart failure using the analysis of the speed and pattern of temperature change in a way that is individualized toward patient'"'"'s health condition.
158 Citations
102 Claims
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1. A method alerting a worsening of condition in a patient with congestive heart failure, which comprises:
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(a) pre-setting a cut-off point of at least one temperature attribute of hypothermia comprising rate of fall of body temperature relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for such attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, (b) routinely determining that attribute in the patient, and (c) determining from said routine determinations of said attribute whether a condition of congestive heart failure hypothermia has occurred, and if so, (d) issuing an alert warning of said worsening condition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method caring for a patient with congestive heart failure, which comprises:
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(a) pre-setting a cut-off point of at least one temperature attribute of hypothermia comprising rate of fall of body temperature relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for such attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, (b) routinely determining that attribute in the patient, and (c) determining whether said attribute has attained or crossed said cut-off point. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of monitoring and warning of worsening of condition of congestive heart failure in a patient, which comprises:
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(a) pre-setting a cut-off point of at least one temperature attribute of hypothermia comprising rate of fall of body temperature relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for that temperature attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, referenced to normal body temperature, (b) routinely determining a selected measure of central tendency and measure of dispersion of body temperatures to define the patient'"'"'s own baseline body temperature, (c) re-referencing said cut-off point from said normal body temperature to said baseline body temperature, and (d) routinely determining whether said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said cut-off point before and after said re-referencing, and if so, outputting an alert.
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32. A method of monitoring and warning of worsening of condition of congestive heart failure in a patient, which comprises:
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(a) pre-setting a cut-off point of at least one temperature attribute of hypothermia comprising rate of fall of body temperature relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for that temperature attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, referenced to normal body temperature, (b) ascertaining body temperatures of the patient in intervals of time, (c) determining whether said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said cut-off point, and if so, outputting an alert, (d) determining a selected measure of central tendency and measure of dispersion of body temperatures to define the patient'"'"'s own baseline body temperature, (e) re-referencing each said cut-off point from said normal body temperature to said baseline body temperature, and (f) determining whether said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said re-referenced cut-off point, and if so, outputting an alert. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of monitoring and warning of worsening of condition of congestive heart failure in a patient, which comprises:
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(a) setting a cut-off point for temperature and rate of fall of temperature as temperature attributes of hypothermia relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for those temperature attributes as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, basis normal body temperature, (b) ascertaining body temperatures of the patient in intervals of time, (c) determining whether a said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said cut-off point, and if so outputting an alert thereof, (d) determining maximum amount of body temperature fall in a selected interval, the interval'"'"'s duration and the frequency of such intervals, as a set, (e) determining whether said set exceeds limits of at least one predefined pattern of maximum amount of body temperature fall in a selected interval, the interval'"'"'s duration and the frequency of such intervals, and if so, outputting an alert, (f) determining a selected measure of central tendency and measure of dispersion of body temperatures to define the patient'"'"'s own baseline body temperature, (g) re-referencing each said cut-off point and said predefined pattern limits from said normal body temperature to said baseline body temperature, (h) determining whether said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said re-referenced cut-off point, and if so, outputting an alert, and (i) determining whether said set exceeds said re-referenced predefined pattern limits, and if so, outputting an alert.
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37. :
- A method of monitoring and warning of worsening of condition of congestive heart failure in a patient, which comprises;
(a) monitoring and recording environmental temperature and core temperature of the patient, (b) determining whether a steep fall in environmental temperature has occurred, and if so, (c) comparing the patient'"'"'s core temperature and the patient'"'"'s change in core temperature over time to a core temperature and a change in core temperature over time of a normal person at environmental temperatures monitored beginning with the temperatures included in said steep fall, and (d) issuing an alert if rise of core temperature of the patient from a temperature below a baseline temperature of the patient to a temperature at or closer to baseline lags behind rise of core temperature of the normal person from a temperature below a baseline temperature of the normal person to a temperature at or closer to baseline, or if the core temperature of the patient rises from a temperature below a baseline temperature of the patient to less than a predetermined minimum acceptable rise.
- A method of monitoring and warning of worsening of condition of congestive heart failure in a patient, which comprises;
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38. Apparatus for monitoring a patient with congestive heart failure for worsening of condition thereof, which comprises:
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(a) means for pre setting a cut-off point of at least one temperature attribute of hypothermia comprising rate of fall of body temperature relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for that temperature attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, (b) means for routinely determining that temperature attribute of the patient, and (c) means for determining whether said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said cut-off point. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. Apparatus for monitoring and warning of worsening of condition of congestive heart failure in a patient, which comprises:
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(a) means for pre-setting a cut-off point of at least one temperature attribute of hypothermia comprising rate of fall of body temperature relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for that temperature attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, referenced to normal body temperature, (b) means for determining body temperature of the patient in intervals of time, (c) means for routinely determining a selected measure of central tendency and measure of dispersion of body temperatures to define the patient'"'"'s own baseline body temperature, (d) means for re-referencing each said cut-off point from said normal body temperature to said baseline body temperature, and (e) means for routinely determining whether said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said cut-off point before and after said re-referencing, and (f) means for outputting an alert on condition that said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said cut-off point before and after said re-referencing. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64)
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65. Apparatus for monitoring and warning of worsening of condition of congestive heart failure in a patient, which comprises:
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(a) means for setting a cut-off point for temperature and rate of fall of temperature as temperature attributes of hypothermia relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for those temperature attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, referenced to normal body temperature, (b) means for ascertaining body temperatures of the patient in intervals of time (c) means for determining said temperature attributes of the patient at predetermined intervals of time, (d) means for determining whether a said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said cut-off point, (e) means for determining maximum amount of body temperature fall in a selected interval, the interval'"'"'s duration and the frequency of such intervals, as a set, (f) means for determining whether said set exceeds limits of a predefined pattern of maximum amount of body temperature fall in a selected interval, the interval'"'"'s duration and the frequency of such intervals, (g) means for determining a selected measure of central tendency and measure of dispersion of the patient'"'"'s body temperatures to define the patient'"'"'s own baseline body temperature, (h) means for re-referencing each said cut-off point and said predefined pattern limits from said normal body temperature to said baseline body temperature, (i) means for determining whether a said temperature attribute of hypothermia has attained or crossed said re-referenced cut-off point, (j) means for determining whether a said set exceeds said re-referenced predefined pattern limits, and (k) means for outputting an alert on condition of a said temperature attribute has attained or crossed said cut-off point before or after a re-referencing of each said cut-off point to said baseline temperature, and on condition of a said set exceeding said predefined pattern limits before or after re-referencing said predefined pattern limits to said baseline temperature. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68)
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69. Apparatus monitoring and warning of worsening of condition of congestive heart failure in a patient, comprising:
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(a) a temperature sensor for sensing body temperatures of a patient and outputting signals representative of the sensed temperatures, (b) a mount of said temperature sensor for indwelling or external placement on the patient, (c) an analyzer including a digital signal processor, program memory and data memory, (d) said program memory containing a program data set having a cut-off point for at least rate of fall of body temperature as a temperature attribute of hypothermia point relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for such temperature attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, (e) an algorithm in said program memory for instructing said processor to perform functions including periodically writing to said data memory data based on said temperature representation signals and reading data from said data memory, and periodically comparing data from data memory with data in said program data set to determine whether a temperature attribute including at least rate of fall of body temperature has attained or crossed said cut-off point, and if so, outputting a signal indicative of cut-off point attainment or crossover, and (f) an alarm for receiving said output signal from said processor and expressing an alert. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96)
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97. A system for monitoring and treating a congestive heart failure patient for worsening congestive heart failure, comprising:
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(a) a temperature sensor for sensing body temperatures of a patient and outputting signals representative of the sensed temperatures, (b) a mount of said temperature sensor for indwelling or external placement on the patient, (c) an analyzer including a digital signal processor, program memory and data memory, (d) said program memory containing a program data set having a cut-off point for at least rate of fall of body temperature as a temperature attribute of hypothermia point relative to optimum sensitivity and specificity for such temperature attribute as a congestive heart failure predictor of death of a patient, (e) an algorithm in said program memory for instructing said processor to perform functions including periodically writing to said data memory data based on said temperature representation signals and reading data from said data memory, and periodically comparing data from data memory with data in said program data set to determine whether a temperature attribute including at least rate of fall of body temperature has attained or crossed said cut-off point, and if so, outputting a signal indicative of cut-off point attainment or crossover, (f) a notifier for receiving said output signal from said processor and sending a notifying signal, and (g) a device responsive to said notification signal for applying a therapeutic treatment to said patient to treat the patient'"'"'s condition of congestive heart failure. - View Dependent Claims (98, 99, 100, 101)
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102. Apparatus for monitoring and warning of worsening of condition of congestive heart failure in a patient, which comprises:
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(a) means for monitoring and recording environmental temperature and core temperature of the patient, (b) means for determining whether a steep fall in environmental temperature has occurred, and if so, (c) means comparing the patient'"'"'s core temperature and the patient'"'"'s change in core temperature over time to a core temperature and a change in core temperature over time of a normal person at environmental temperatures monitored beginning with the temperatures included in said steep fall, and (d) means for issuing an alert if rise of core temperature of the patient from a temperature below a baseline temperature of the patient to a temperature at or closer to baseline lags behind rise of core temperature of the normal person from a temperature below a baseline temperature of the normal person to a temperature at or closer to baseline, or if the core temperature of the patient rises from a temperature below a baseline temperature of the patient to less than a predetermined minimum acceptable rise.
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Specification