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Venous pump efficiency test system and method
| Details |
Inventors: Laufer, Michael D.; Miller, Gary H.;
Assignee: VNUS Medical Technologies, Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA)
Primary Examiner: Manuel; George
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Fulwider Patton Lee & Utecht, LLP
A test system and method for evaluating the efficiency of the venous pump in leg muscles and for identifying incompetent venous valves. The test system comprises a legging having inflatable bladders, a manifold and a system controller. A pressurized inflation source is provided which is in fluid communication with the manifold and the legging. The controller sequences valves within the manifold to inflate and deflate the bladders of the legging. The test system further includes a Doppler blood flow sensor interfaced to the controller. The sensor is configured with a housing which contains a rotatable disk, upon which two pairs of crystals are disposed. The sensor housing is secured a leg of a patient proximate a blood vessel in which blood flow is to be measured. The patient is positioned on a reclinable test station, upon which the controller and manifold may be mounted. The maximum volume of venous blood output from the leg is measured and the venous output flow is subsequently measured after the bladders are sequentially inflated above a first location on the leg of the patient. Reduced venous output flow from the maximum volume output indicates reflux and identifies the location of an incompetent valve. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION Briefly, and in general terms, the present invention provides a system and method for testing the efficiency of the venous pump in leg muscles and for identifying incompetent venous valves.
The system includes a test station at which a patient is connected to a pneumatic legging having a plurality of air inflatable bladders.
The bladders are connected to a manifold, which is connected to a system controller.
The controller restricts the blood flow in the patient's leg by sequentially inflating the bladders in the legging.
The controller receives femoral blood flow measurements from a Doppler flow transducer.
The test performed by the system and method of the present invention is non-invasive, while providing both morphological and functional data.
The test results are not operator dependent, and, therefore, are highly reproducible.
Similarly, the testing can be performed without patient effort being a determining factor.
Moreover, the results are autostandardized so that there is no dependency on empirical population-based data.
Consequently, pre-intervention and post-intervention studies can be compared in the same patient and results can be compared from different medical centers.
Thus, results from new therapies can be correlated and evaluated against other existing modalities.
In addition, the system design allows it to potentially predict results after a successful venous valve repair procedure.
Also, the format of the output from the controller is easily configured to be understood by the referring physician and vascular surgeon.
The present test system comprises a legging or stocking having inflatable bladders, a manifold and a system controller.
The manifold includes valves in fluid communication with inflation tubes connected to the inflatable bladders of the legging.
A pressurized air source is provided which is in fluid communication with the manifold and the inflation tubes.
The controller sequences the valves in the manifold to inflate and deflate the bladders of the legging
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Heart Surgery 
