Cervical Immobilization Collar with Arterial Cooling Elements
AssigneeHeart Core, L.L.C.
InventorAqeel Sandhu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cervical immobilization collar incorporates one or more cooling elements for inducing a mild cerebral hypothermia by transcutaneous cooling of oxygenated blood flowing through carotid arteries. The immobilization collar includes an annular support structure having an extended axial length for limiting cervical compaction of a wearer's neck and a chin rest for limiting cervical rotation of the wearer's neck. In addition, the one or more cooling elements, which function as a heat extractor, are carried by the support structure in positions for inducing transcutaneous conduction of heat through an anterior portion of the wearer's neck from at least one of the wearer's carotid arteries.
Claims52
A cervical immobilization collar comprising
- an annular support structure having an extended axial length for limiting cervical compaction of a wearer's neck and a chin rest for limiting cervical rotation of the wearer's neck and
- a heat extractor carried by the support structure,
- wherein the heat extractor is positioned for inducing a transcutaneous conduction of heat through an anterior portion of the wearer's neck from at least one of the wearer's carotid arteries.
A protocol for treating trauma patients comprising steps of
- installing a cervical immobilization collar around a patient's neck having facility for limiting rotation and compaction of the patient's cervical vertebrae,
- arranging at least one activatable cooling element carried by the collar in thermal transcutaneous communication with at least one of the patient's carotid arteries through an anterior portion of the patient's neck, and
- activating the at least one activatable cooling element in association with the installation of the collar around the patient's neck and initiating thereby a flow of heat from the one or more carotid arteries through the anterior portion of the patient's neck to the cooling element for reducing temperature of the patient's brain without inducing systemic hypothermia.
A modular cervical immobilization collar comprising
- an annular support structure having an extended axial length for limiting cervical compaction of a wearer's neck and a chin rest for limiting cervical rotation of the wearer's neck,
- a cooling element for extracting heat from a carotid artery of the wearer's neck, and
- a release surface of the support structure cooperates with the cooling element to form a temporary bond for removably mounting the cooling element on the support structure.
A modular cervical immobilization collar comprising
- an annular support structure having an extended axial length for limiting cervical compaction of a wearer's neck and a chin rest for limiting cervical rotation of the wearer's neck,
- a cooling element for extracting heat from a carotid artery of the wearer's neck being arranged for mounting from an inside surface of the support structure in contact with a front of the wearer's neck,
- a pad for conforming to the wearer's neck being arranged for mounting from the inside surface of the support structure in contact with the front of the wearer's neck, and
- a mounting system of the support structure for alternatively mounting the cooling element or the pad in contact with the front of the wearer's neck.
A cervical immobilization collar comprising
- an annular support structure having an extended axial length for limiting cervical compaction of a wearer's neck and a chin rest for limiting cervical rotation of the wearer's neck,
- at least a portion of the annular support structure being thermally conductive, and
- a cooling element mounted in thermal communication with the thermally conductive portion of the support structure for extracting heat from a carotid artery in the wearer's neck.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.