Drug delivery apparatus
AssigneeMedic-Aid Limited
InventorsJonathan Stanley Harold Denyer, Anthony Dyche, Ivan Richard Prince
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nebulizer has structure for determining the duration of a pulse of atomization during inspiration, the determination structure including components for measuring the tidal volume of a patient, measuring the duration of inspiration, for storing estimates of the volume of a patient's upper airway, and for calculating the duration of the pulse. The duration of the pulse is calculated on the basis of the tidal volume, the duration of inspiration, and the stored estimated volume of patient's upper airway.
Claims35
A drug delivery apparatus comprising:
- a) a drug delivery device for selectively delivering both medication-laden air and non-medicated air to a patient for inspiration, wherein the medication-laden air is selected to be delivered in pulses;
- b) a sensor for monitoring a patient's breathing pattern;
- and
- c) a controller for controlling the drug delivery device to deliver the medication in pulses;
- wherein the length of the pulses and the proportion of time of the inspiratory phase of the breathing pattern during which the pulse is delivered are varied by the controller depending on the breathing pattern monitored by the sensor.
A nebulizer comprising apparatus for determining the duration of a pulse of atomization during inspiration, the apparatus including a tidal volume measuring device for measuring the tidal volume of a patient, a timer for measuring the duration of inspiration, an estimate storage device for storing an estimate of the volume of a patient's upper airway, and a calculator for calculating the duration of the pulse on the basis of the tidal volume measured by the tidal volume measuring device, the duration of inspiration measured by the timer, and the stored estimated volume of a patient's upper airway from the storage device.
A nebulizer comprising:
- an atomizing device for atomizing a medication;
- a sensor for monitoring a patient's breathing pattern;
- and
- a controller for controlling the atomizing device to atomize the medication in pulses, wherein the length of the pulses and the proportion of time of the inspiration phase of the breathing pattern during which the pulse is delivered are varied by the controller depending on the breathing pattern monitoring by the sensor.
A method for determining the duration of a pulse during which medicated air is delivered to a patient during inspiration, comprising:
- (i) measuring the tidal volume of a patient;
- (ii) measuring the duration of inspiration of a patient;
- (iii) storing an estimate of the volume of a patient's upper airway;
- and
- (iv) calculating the duration of the pulse on the basis of the measured tidal volume of the patient, the measured duration of the inspiration and the stored estimated volume of the patient's upper airway.
Drug delivery apparatus comprising a tidal volume predictor for predicting the tidal volume of a patient, including a detector for measuring a patient's peak flow, a timer for measuring the duration of inspiration, and a tidal volume calculator for calculating the tidal volume on the basis of the peak flow from the peak flow detector, and the duration of inspiration measured by the timer.
A method of predicting the tidal volume of a patient comprising:
- (i) measuring a patient's peak flow;
- (ii) measuring the duration of inspiration of a patient;
- (iii) calculating the tidal volume on the basis of the measured peak flow and the measured duration of inspiration of the patient.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.