Med Institute Incorporated

Cook Pacemaker Corporation

Vasant Padmanabhan

Neal E Fearnot

Louis B Goode

Krishna Rama Narayanan

Fredrick J Shipko

A pulsed Doppler probe 10 for monitoring blood flow within a blood vessel 12 includes a sheath 17 and a plurality of electrically conductive wires 26 extending through the sheath 17. The wires 26 have distal ends 28 to which an ultrasonic transducer 18 is operatively connected. The transducer 18 has an operative surface 20, and the probe 10 also includes a means 22 for fixing the orientation of the operative surface 20 with respect to at least one of a longitudinal axis 38 of the sheath 17, and the orientation fixing means 22, or with respect to the distal ends 28 of the electrically conductive wires 26. The orientation fixing means 22 includes an epoxy material 24 encasing the ultrasonic transducer 18, shaped to include a cylindrically concave surface 30. The probe 10 further includes a mesh band 44 of at least one of an absorbable material and an inert material adapted to encircle the blood vessel 12. The probe 10 also includes a remotely operable means 46 for detachably securing the orientation fixing means 22 to the mesh band 44 so that the ultrasonic transducer 18 is positioned adjacent to the blood vessel 12 with the concave surface 30 of the encasing material 24 facing the blood vessel 12.

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Monroeville, PA, United States of America

Vasant Padmanabhan