Device and method for measurement of blood flow
AssigneeRegents of the University of Minnesota
InventorsSteven J. Bailin, Robert F. Wilson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device and method for measuring fluid flow within a vessel having fluctuating elastic walls, such as, for example, an artery. The device includes a catheter; an internal stablizer or frame for establishing an invariant cross-section in the vessel wall; and a fluid velocity detecting system, such as, for example, a Doppler crystal transducer. The method for measuring includes the steps of stabilizing the vessel wall and measuring the velocity of fluid passing through the stabilized cross-section of the vessel wall. A method of treating and a method of diagnosing vascular disease by employing the device of this invention is also part of the invention.
Claims23
A device, suitable for measuring fluid flow within a vessel characterized by generally tubular segments or elastic wall, each of the wall segments having an internal circumference which is normally fluctuating and defining a variable cross-section for the segment, the device comprising:
- a catheter having a distal end suitable for insertion into the means, carried by the catheter adjacent the distal end, for internally stabilizing by engaging the entire internal circumference of one of the segments in order to maintain a constant cross-sectional area of the segment;
- and
- means, carried by the catheter adjacent the distal end, for detecting fluid velocity within the engaged segment.
A method for measuring blood flow in an arterial vessel serving a selected section of vasculature, the method comprising the steps of:
- inserting the distal end of a catheter into the vessel, the catheter having means carried by the catheter adjacent the distal end for engaging the entire internal circumference of a tubular segment of the vessel in order to maintain a constant cross-section of the vessel segment, and having means, carried by the catheter adjacent the distal end, for detecting fluid velocity;
- stabilizing the cross-sectional area of a segment of the wall in the arterial vessel serving the section of pulmonary vasculature by engaging the entire internal circumference with the means for engaging;
- and
- measuring the velocity of blood flow passing within the stabilized portion of wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.