Catheter system for controlling a patient's body temperature by in situ blood temperature modification
AssigneeRadiant Medical, Inc.
InventorRobert Ginsburg
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Abstract
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for controlling the internal body temperature of a patient. According to the present invention, a catheter is inserted through an incision into a large blood vessel of a patient. By selectively heating or cooling a portion of the catheter lying within the blood vessel, heat may be transferred to or from blood flowing within the vessel and the patient's body temperature may thereby be increased or decreased as desired. The invention will find use in treating undesirable conditions of hypothermia and hyperthermia, or for inducing a condition of artificial hypothermia when desired.
Claims14
A heat exchange catheter device that is insertable into a blood vessel lumen o f a first diameter and useable to alter the temperature of blood flowing through that blood vessel lumen, said catheter device comprising:
- an elongate, flexible catheter body and a heat exchanger which occupies less than the entirety of the catheter body, said heat exchanger being configured to allow circulation of heated or cooled heat exchange fluid therethrough;
- said heat exchanger being configured such that, when heated or cooled heat exchange fluid is being circulated therethrough, the heat exchanger will not fully occlude the blood vessel lumen, thereby allowing blood to continue to flow through the blood vessel lumen and past said heat exchanger.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.