Medical sensor system for detecting a feature in a body
AssigneeBIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG
InventorJens Ulmer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to a medical sensor system (10a/10c) for detecting a feature (12a/12c) in a human or animal body (14a/14c), including a signal pick-up unit (16a/16c), which can be implanted in the animal and/or human body (14a/14c), and a signal processing unit (18a/18c), which is spatially separated from the signal pick-up unit (16a/16c) and which includes a transmitter (20a/20c) and a receiver (22a/22c). The transmitter (20a/20c) emits an alternating magnetic field (24a/24c) to act on the signal pick-up unit (16a/16c), and the receiver (22a/22c) receives a response signal (26a/26c) of the signal pick-up unit (16a/16c), which is generated by the magnetic interaction of the alternating magnetic field (24a/24c) with the signal pick-up unit (16a/16c).
Claims25
A medical sensor system for detecting a feature in a body, the system including:
- a. a signal pick-up unit configured to be implanted within the body, the signal pick-up unit including:
- (1) a magnetic nanoparticle having a coating consisting essentially of a receptor, the receptor being configured to competitively bind to:
- (a) an analyte, and
- (b) an analog of the analyte,
- as a function of a concentration of the analyte;
- (2) at least one polymer of monomers from:
- (a) N-isopropylacrylamide,
- (b) N,N-diethylacrylamide,
- (c) methyl vinyl ether,
- (d) N-vinylcaprolactam,
- (e) ethylene oxide-co-propylene oxide,
- (f) lactic acid,
- (g) glycolic acid,
- (h) trimethylcarbonate,
- (i) acrylate,
- (j) methacrylate,
- (k) hydroxyethyl-metacrylate,
- (l) vinyl ester;
- b. a signal processing unit:
- (1) spatially separated from the signal pick-up unit, and
- (2) including:
- (a) a transmitter configured to emit an alternating magnetic field which acts on the signal pick-up unit to generate a response signal from the signal pick-up unit, and
- (b) a receiver configured to receive the response signal of the signal pick-up unit.
A method for detecting an analyte in a body using a sensor system, the system including:
- A. a signal pick-up unit configured to be implanted within the body, the signal pick-up unit including:
- I. a magnetic nanoparticle,
- II. a hydrogel, the hydrogel including an analog of the analyte, and
- III. a coating on the nanoparticle, the coating consisting essentially of a receptor of the analyte and analog,
- B. a signal processing unit spatially separated from the signal pick-up unit, the signal processing unit including a transmitter and a receiver;
- wherein the method includes the steps of:
- a. transmitting an alternating magnetic field from the transmitter, the magnetic field acting on the signal pick-up unit to generate a response signal therefrom;
- b. receiving the response signal of the signal pick-up unit at the receiver.
A medical sensor system for detecting an analyte in a body, the system including:
- a. a signal pick-up unit configured to be implanted within the body, the signal pick-up unit including
- (1) a hydrogel, and
- (2) a magnetic nanoparticle being configured to exhibit a magnetic property dependent on the concentration of the analyte within the body,
- (3) a coating on the magnetic nanoparticle, the coating consisting essentially of a receptor of:
- (a) an analyte, and
- (b) an analog of the analyte,
- whereby the magnetic nanoparticle may reversibly bind to the analyte and analog via the receptor;
- b. a signal processing unit:
- (1) situated outside the body, and
- (2) including:
- (a) a transmitter configured to emit an alternating magnetic field, and
- (b) a receiver configured to receive a response signal from at least the magnetic nanoparticle of the signal pick-up unit, the response signal being induced by the alternating magnetic field.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.