Method and apparatus to sense temperature in an implantable pump
AssigneeMedtronic, Inc.
InventorsJerome T. Hartlaub, James M. Olsen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An implantable drug infusion pump for delivering drug therapy is made more reliable and its performance improved by monitoring drug pump temperature. Monitoring pump temperature can also provide for temperature-related drug therapy modification. A pump temperature sensor is read by the infusion pump's microprocessor. Pump temperature data is stored in pump memory for later access by a remote controller. A simple thermistor or semiconductor temperature sensor can provide fast and reliable temperature monitoring of the pump and/or of a patient by reading the temperature sensor's value and calculating a temperature therefrom.
Claims19
An automatic drug therapy delivery system, capable of detecting the possibility of damage to the pump prior to implant, the system comprising:
- a) an implantable pump;
- b) a temperature sensor producing electrically measurable signals that are indicative of the temperature of the implantable pump over time prior to implantation;
- and
- c) a controller having at least one input that receives the signals from the temperature sensor, wherein the controller monitors the signals from the temperature sensor prior to implantation of the implantable pump and stores those signals from the temperature sensor that are indicative of the implantable pump being exposed to a temperature that is one or more of inside or outside of a pre-determined normal range at which the implantable pump can be safely stored.
An automatic drug therapy delivery system, capable of detecting the possibility of damage to the pump prior to implant, the system comprising:
- a) an implantable pump;
- b) a temperature sensor producing electrically measurable signals that are indicative of temperature to which the implantable pump is subjected prior to implantation;
- and
- c) a controller having at least one input that receives the signals from the temperature sensor, the controller monitoring and recording the signals from the temperature sensor prior to implantation, the controller further including a discriminator to separate the received signals into categories representing one of three pre-determined temperature ranges, the three temperature ranges comprising a below normal temperature range, a normal temperature range and an above normal temperature range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.