Method for enriching a bodily fluid with a gas
AssigneeTherOx, Inc.
InventorsDerek J. Daw, William R. Patterson, Stephen E. Myrick, Jeffrey L. Creech, Vincent Divino, Jr., Gregory P. Watson, Paul J. Zalesky
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system utilizes an oxygenation device to generate a gas-enriched physiologic fluid and to combine it with a bodily fluid to create a gas-enriched bodily fluid. The oxygenation device may take the form of a disposable cartridge, which is placed within an enclosure. An electronic controller manages various aspects of the system, such as the production of gas-enriched fluids, flow rates, bubble detection, and automatic operation and shut down.
Claims56
A method of enriching a bodily fluid with a gas, the method comprising the acts of:
- (a) supplying a physiologic fluid to a cartridge;
- (b) enriching the physiologic fluid with a gas in the cartridge to form a gas-enriched physiologic fluid;
- and
- (c) mixing the gas-enriched physiologic fluid with a bodily fluid in the cartridge to form a gas-enriched bodily fluid.
A method of operating an extracorporeal circuit, the method comprising the acts of:
- (a) loading a cartridge into an enclosure;
- (b) priming the cartridge with a physiologic solution;
- (c) priming the cartridge with a bodily fluid;
- (d) enriching the physiologic solution with a gas to form a gas-enriched physiologic fluid;
- (e) mixing the gas-enriched physiologic fluid with the bodily fluid to form a gas-enriched bodily fluid;
- and
- (f) delivering the gas-enriched bodily fluid to a patient.
A method of operating a blood pump circuit, the circuit having a tube having a draw portion for drawing blood from a patient and having a return portion for returning blood to a patient, the method comprising the acts of:
- (a) pumping blood through the draw portion of the tube and into a mixing reservoir;
- (b) mixing the blood within the mixing reservoir with a gas-enriched physiologic fluid to form gas-enriched blood;
- (c) pumping the gas-enriched blood from the mixing reservoir through the return portion of the tube;
- (d) generating an actual flow rate signal correlative to a rate of flow through the tube;
- and
- (e) automatically controlling the rate of flow through the tube in response to the actual flow rate signal.
A method of operating a blood pump circuit, the circuit having a tube having a draw portion for drawing blood from a patient and having a return portion for returning blood to a patient, the method comprising the acts of:
- (a) pumping blood through the draw portion of the tube and into a mixing reservoir;
- (b) mixing the blood within the mixing chamber with a gas-enriched physiologic fluid to form gas-enriched blood;
- (c) pumping the gas-enriched blood from the mixing reservoir through the return portion of the tube;
- (d) generating a desired flow rate signal correlative to a desired rate of flow through the tube;
- (e) generating an actual flow rate signal correlative to an actual rate of flow through the tube;
- and
- (f) automatically adjusting the actual rate of flow through the tube to the desired flow rate in response to the desired flow rate signal and the actual flow rate signal.
A method of enriching a bodily fluid with a gas, the method comprising the acts of:
- (a) deleivering a physiologic fluid from a fluid supply chamber of a housing to an atomizer disposed in an atomizing chamber of the housing;
- (b) atomizing the physiologic fluid using the atomizer to deliver droplets of the physiologic fluid into a gas pressurized within the atomizing chamber to form a gas-enriched physiologic fluid;
- (c) delivering the gas-enriched physiologic fluid from the atomizing chamber into a mixing chamber of the housing;
- and
- (d) delivering a bodily fluid to the mixing chamber to mix with the gas-enriched physiologic fluid to form a gas-enriched bodily fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.