Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Patent
1996-05-28
1998-05-26
Rimell, Sam
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
604 82, 604 83, 604131, 604151, 604208, 604246, A61M 100, A61M 3700
Patent
active
057556920
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for administering a drug to a patient.
The use of patient controlled analgesia and sedation (PCA and PCS) has gained acceptance in the medical field, but PCA and PCS systems must be carefully designed to avoid the possibility of accidents or deliberate overdoses. Such equipment should also be simple to use. The advantages of patient responsive liquid medium delivery systems and the background to the development of such a system are described in some detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,668 which is incorporated herein by way of reference. However, prior art systems known to applicant tend to be costly and complex which makes the use of such systems inappropriate for use in less affluent or sophisticated societies. Indeed, it would be desirable for the system to be widely available, possibly even on an out patient basis, but in that event the system would need to incorporate safety features which would protect the patient against overdose as a consequence of malfunction or misuse.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention a method of administering a drug to a patient comprises the steps of: containing the drug; the patient; diluent; and diminishing doses of the drug are administered to the patient
Preferably, the dispenser is a syringe, the plunger of which is operated with a reciprocating movement from time to time to administer the predetermined volume of the liquid to the patient, and to draw an equal volume of the diluent into the syringe from a diluent reservoir. The preferred arrangement is for the diluent to be drawn into the dispenser prior to the administration of the liquid to the patient.
The travel of the plunger may be constant for each reciprocation thereof.
The plunger may be moved by an electromechanical actuator such as a servomotor or a solenoid in response to an electrical drive signal. Further according to the invention apparatus for administering a drug to a patient comprises: plunger movable in the cylinder, actuator means engagable with the plunger to move it into and out of the cylinder; and actuator means is responsive to cause a reciprocating movement of the plunger in the cylinder from rime to time, thereby to cause the plunger to perform a delivery stroke during which a quantity of a liquid in the cylinder is expelled, and an intake stroke in which a quantity of a diluent liquid is drawn into the cylinder.
The actuator means may comprise a solenoid or servomotor arranged to move the plunger a predetermined distance into and out of the cylinder during each reciprocation thereof, so that an equal volume of liquid is expelled from and drawn into the cylinder during each reciprocation. The intake stroke may take place prior to the delivery stroke so that diluent liquid is drawn into the syringe prior to delivery. A time delay facility may be incorporated into the control means to provide for a time delay between the intake stroke and the delivery stroke to allow for mixing of drug and diluent prior to delivery.
The apparatus preferably includes operating means operable by a patient to generate a demand signal to which the control means is responsive to generate the drive signal
The control means may include timing means for determining a mininum duration of the intervals between the generation of each drive signal. The apparatus may include display means for displaying data indicative of the amount of the origin liquid remaining in or dispensed from the syringe, corresponding to the overall dose of the drug in the liquid remaining or already dispensed from the syringe, or which indicates the number of operations of the actuator.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an arrangement for exercising the method of the invention, incorporating apparatus according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating schematically the relative ma
REFERENCES:
patent: 3515127 (1970-06-01), Reymond
patent: 4065230 (1977-12-01), Gezari
patent: 4196730 (1980-04-01), Wilson
patent: 4345595 (1982-08-01), Whitney et al.
patent: 4475666 (1984-10-01), Bilbrey et al.
patent: 5069668 (1991-12-01), Boydman
patent: 5188604 (1993-02-01), Orth
Cook and Whitman, "Patient Controlled Sedation" pp. 275-288.
Cook and Whitman, "New Procedures--New Sedation Techniques" Minimally Invasive Therapy 1994:3 (Suppl. 2): 39-42.
Racunas Robert V.
Rimell Sam
LandOfFree
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