Institute of Critical Care Medicine

Cardio Pulminary Laboratory Research Foundation

James H Carrington

Max Harry Weil

Jose Bisera

Apparatus for facilitating the performance of medical procedures involving the vascular system of a patient, especially in a critical care environment, such as withdrawal of blood for analysis and infusion of medication. In the taking of a blood sample, blood flows through an arterial catheter connected to an artery of the patient, past a sample station, and then through a venous catheter that brings the blood back to the patient, the various mechanisms being connected by transparent plastic tubes. After a sample is taken, the tubes are flushed through the sample station, arterial catheter, and the venous catheter. Calibration of all pressure transducers requires application of high and low pressures to them, the high pressure being obtained by applying a high pressure (e.g. 200 mm Hg) to a bottle of saline solution which is also utilized to flush the tubes and which is connected to all of the transducers.

Vascular interface

An osmotic sensing head for measuring the osmotic pressure of protein molecules in blood, which is of the type that includes a reference chamber for holding saline solution, a sample chamber for holding blood, an osmotic membrane between the chambers, and a pressure sensor coupled to the reference chamber to measure the pressure therein. The sample chamber has a small volume and is provided with an inlet and outlet so that a storage saline solution can be removed and a blood sample introduced by merely flowing the blood sample in through the inlet while allowing the storage solution to pass out through the outlet. The inlet is directed at the membrane at an angle to help wash away material lying on the membrane. The osmotic membrane is held in slight tension by an elastomeric O-ring which presses the membrane against a conical surface.

Growing community of inventors

Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

James H Carrington