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US 6,659,961 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for measuring pulmonary blood flow by pulmonary exchange of oxygen and an inert gas with the blood
OwnerGavin J. B. Robinsoninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for measuring pulmonary blood flow in a subject by pulmonary exchange of oxygen and an inert gas with the blood using a divided respiratory system. One method of isolating two or more divisions of the respiratory system uses a multi-lumen cuffed endobronchial catheter. In one embodiment, a triple-lumen cuffed endobronchial catheter is provided. In another embodiment, gas mixtures are supplied to each lumen using a bag-in-a-box type ventilator for each breathing system for synchronizing the rate and pressure of mixed gas supplied to the lumens.
Claims5
A method for measuring the pulmonary blood flow in a subject including:
- isolating two or more divisions of the respiratory system, said divisions comprising the complete gas exchanging part of said respiratory system;
- ventilating each said division with a separate gas mixture, at least one of said gas mixtures including an inert soluble gas;
- determining uptake of inert soluble gas in at least two of said divisions;
- determining relative pulmonary blood flow of said divisions;
- determining end tidal concentration of inert soluble gas in at least two of said divisions;
- and
- calculating pulmonary blood flow from determined values of uptake and end tidal concentration of inert soluble gas, and relative pulmonary blood flow.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.