Other

City of Hope National Medical Center

Inovo Limited

Innovo, Inc.

Brian L Tiep

Robert E Phillips

Ben A Otsap

Rebecca E Pacas

A reservoir cannula is described that has a static fluidic control structure, in that it does not employ a membrane or other moving parts. Furthermore, the reservoir is open to ambient air instead of being sealed. In use, the reservoir cannula enables storage of oxygen and oxygen-rich gas in a storage chamber as well as in and around the patient's nasal passages and nasopharynx, which enables high volume oxygen delivery to the patient early in the next inhalation. Consequently, patients using this delivery mode can carry a smaller and lighter portable oxygen container for ambulatory oxygen, because lower flow oxygen is required to meet their oxygenation needs. In addition, patients requiring a higher flow of oxygen can achieve oxygenation levels previously achieved only by high flow mask or high flow nasal oxygen systems.

Fluidic-controlled reservoir cannula

The pulmonary oxygen flow control system delivers oxygen from a source of pressure to a nasal cannula worn by the patient. Between the source and the nasal cannula is a pendant flow structure which includes an orifice followed by a gas dynamic valve. When the downstream pressure in the cannula is high, the gas dynamic valve diverts the oxygen flow through the orifice to a flexible reservoir. Upon inhalation, the pressure at the cannula falls so that the gas dynamic valve delivers the orifice flow to the cannula and also utilizes a Venturi effect to withdraw oxygen from the reservoir and deliver it to the cannula. The cannula has nasal tubes which have angular faces and which are positioned farther into the nares to deliver the oxygen more efficiently.

Oxygen delivery cannula system that improves the effectiveness of alveolar oxygenation

A device useful in sorting slides can be constructed so as to include a tray formed of a white polymer material and so as to include a plurality of slide holders pivotally mounted on the tray generally above the bottom of it so that they may be rotated between storage positions in which slides held by the holders are generally parallel to the bottom of the tray and adjacent to the bottom of the tray to a sorting position in which slides held by the holders are located at an angle to the bottom of the tray. Detents are provided for temporarily positioning the holders in the sorting positions. When they are held at an angle to the bottom of the tray slides held by the holders can be viewed as they are illuminated by ambient light. Because of the manner in which the slides are held they may be arranged in any desired manner by moving them to various position in the holders as they are illuminated.

Slide sorters

An apparatus which minimizes the amount of oxygen needed to maintain a specific oxygen level in the blood of an individual can be constructed so as to use a transducer and other circuit components to obtain a first series of pulses or signals corresponding to the individual's breathing. A divider or counter processes the signals or pulses of the first series to create a second series of pulses or signals corresponding to periodic pulses or signals of the first series. The pulses or signals of the second series are used to periodically open a valve to deliver oxygen to the individual at about the start of the person's periodic breathing cycles.

Method and apparatus for supplying a gas to a body

An apparatus for use in oxygen therapy can be constructed so as to include a gas holder appearing more or less as a pendant which includes a variable volume internal chamber and so as to use a line for continuously delivering oxygen to the holder and a conduit for conveying gas between a person using the apparatus and the holder. During use on exhalation the initially exhaled gas will flow through cannula carried by the conduit and the conduit into the holder so as to expand the variable volume chamber. When it is filled the remaining expired gas will be vented to the ambient. As the holder is filled the expired gas within it will be mixed with a limited amount of oxygen and thereafter during exhalation the oxygen supply will displace the expired gas in the conduit so that it flows outwardly from the cannula to be picked up by the expired air being vented to the ambient. On inhalation the oxygen and any non-displaced gas in the conduit will be inhaled preferentially to the ambient air and will be followed into the respiratory track by the gas from within the variable volume chamber and the oxygen concurrently supplied to the holder. During the remainder of inhalation ambient air will be inhaled.

Oxygen therapy apparatus

An apparatus for delivering oxygen to a patient is preferably constructed so as to include an elongted, deformable receptacle having an open side extending along its length, a flexible, 'floppy' diaphragm secured at its edge so as to seal off or enclose the open side of the receptacle and a retainer for protecting and for limiting expansion of the diaphragm located along the side of the diaphragm remote from the receptacle. As the apparatus is used, oxygen is constantly delivered to the extremities of the receptacle through appropriate supply lines. On exhalation exhaled gas is forced by the pressure of the breath through a cannula--preferably a nasal cannula--into the interior of the receptacle remote from the supply lines. This cannula is used so that gas can flow. This exhaled gas is used to force the diaphragm against the retainer, opening up the interior of the receptacle in an amount such that some of the exhaled gas will be held in the receptacle. This latter gas will gradually be replaced by the oxygen. On inhalation this mixture will be drawn through the cannula into the body as a consequence of the partial vacuum created during inhalation. This will have the effect of collapsing the diaphragm against the interior of the receptacle so as to substantially close off the interior of the receptacle between the cannula and the supply lines.

Oxygen delivery apparatus

A nasal cannula structure capable of being adjusted so as to fit comfortably relative to the nose of a user can be constructed so as to utilize an elongated tubular conduit held by a suitable support so that a portion of the conduit extends beneath and adjacent to the nostrils of the nose of the user. Two separate, spaced holes are provided in this portion of the conduit. Each of these holes is covered by a sleeve which fits closely around the exterior of the conduit in such a manner there is no gas leakage between the exterior of the conduit and the interiors of the sleeves and in such a manner that the positions of the sleeves relative to the conduit can be changed. These sleeves carry small tubes which are in communication with the holes in the conduit and which also extend into the nostrils of a user.

Nasal cannula structure

A variable capacitor can be constructed so as to utilize two elongated metal strips serving as electrodes. Such strips are secured to one another so that at least a part of one is above at least a part of the other. The electrodes are insulated from one another and are disposed in a helical coil in which the turns are spaced from one another a sufficient extent to permit relative movement between the individual turns. In the disclosed capacitor a support or mounting collar is secured to the outermost turn and a movable actuator is secured to the innermost turn. Preferably at least one of the electrodes is sufficiently resilient so as to serve as a helical spring which will return the coil back to its initial configuration after at least one turn of the coil has been moved relative to an adjacent turn of the coil. A second collar may be located around the first and secured to the first by a flexible mounting structure such as a spring.

Variable capacitors

A measurement corresponding to the intrathoracic pressure within the body of an individual can be obtained through the use of a transducer. The transducer used includes a movable actuator and is held with reference to the body so that the actuator engages the soft tissue above the suprasternal notch of the individual. As the transducer is located in this manner the actuator moves in accordance with the movement of such tissue as the individual breathes. As a consequence of the operation of the transducer during such movement of the actuator an electric signal is obtained which corresponds to the individual's intrathoracic pressure. An appropriate conventional circuit may be used to indicate such pressure.

Method of measuring intrathoracic pressure

A breathing apparatus primarily intended to be used in administering oxygen to a patient can be constructed so as to utilize a fluidic control device in such a manner as to conserve oxygen. The control device is connected to a supply of the gas to be administered to the user, to a reservoir type structure for temporarily storing this gas and a respiration structure such as a connected pair of tubes adapted to extend loosely into the nostrils of the user. On inhalation through the respiration structure the control device serves to permit gas flow from both the supply and the reservoir type structure to the respiration structure and to the user while on exhalation by the user the control device is responsive to the pressure exerted by the flow of exhaled gas in order to cause gas flow from the supply to the reservoir type structure.

Breathing apparatus

The pulse of a patient suffering from an obstructive lung ailment or problem such as emphysema, bronchiectasis, chronic bronchitis, asthma or the like may be monitored so as to obtain a signal varying in accordance with the peak values of successive pulse beats. The signal so obtained is used to provide an output to the patient which is capable of being sensed by the patient and which corresponds to the differences in the peak values of successive pulse beats. This output is used by the person in learning to control the operation of his or her heart in order to reduce the work of breathing and to avoid potential eventual heart failure when the individual encounters breathing problems.

Intrathoracic pressure biofeedback method

An individual suffering from bronchial asthma can be trained to relax his or her bronchial muscles in order to facilitate breathing. In such training a microphone is located adjacent to the trachea of the individual and is utilized to provide a signal. This signal may be directly amplified and converted to an audible sound through the use of a speaker, but it is preferably utilized to provide a variable frequency signal corresponding to the amplitude of the signal from the microphone, and this latter signal is supplied to the speaker to provide a variable tone. This tonal variation effectively indicates to an individual the manner in which the individual is breathing. Such an individual can learn to control his or her breathing in such a manner as to regulate the frequency of the tone produced by the speaker so that the sound produced corresponds to the bronchial muscles being relaxed.

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Monrovia, CA, United States of America

Brian L Tiep