732 results about "Blood capillary" patented technology

A specimen collecting, processing and analytical assembly, designed for testing small volumes of body fluids, substances and secretions, said assembly comprising a one piece barrel assembly with a volumetrically graduated capillary tube having an open end, and optionally coated internally with an anticoagulant, a stabilizer or a preservative. The barrel assembly includes a filter membrane fitted above the capillary end at the junction of the barrel assembly and the capillary tube, a support means at the barrel's second open end, and an analytical testing means disposed there between. The invention also provides a sealed vial containing an analytical testing reagent, the vial being substantially airtight and sealed with a pierceable material, a first tip cap for closing the open end of the capillary tube, a second cap to close sealably the second open end of the barrel container and a lancet to induce capillary skin punctures.

PCT No. PCT/JP97/04203 Sec. 371 Date May 20, 1999 Sec. 102(e) Date May 20, 1999 PCT Filed Nov. 19, 1997 PCT Pub. No. WO98/22155 PCT Pub. Date May 28, 1998The present invention offers an artificial tube for nerve which can remain in the body until the nerve regenerates while does not remain as a foreign body in the body following nerve regeneration, and which induces axons regenerated from severed nerve stumps, can promote infiltration of blood capillaries from the body and regeneration of nerve tissue. The present invention comprises a tube 10 or 20 having coating layers 12, 13 or 22, 23 composed of gelatin or collagen on the inner and outer surfaces of a tube 11 or 21 composed of a material being biodegradable and absorbable in vivo, and a collagen body 30 or 40 having cavities 32, 33 or 41 which pass through said tube so as to be substantially parallel to the axis of said tube; wherein, said cavities are filled with a matrix gel.

A disposable biosensor test strip is provided that includes a plurality of penetrating members. Each penetrating member is associated with a capillary chamber that has a depth suitable for capillary flow of blood and holds a volume of less than about 1.0 μl of the blood sample. A working electrode and a counter or reference electrode are disposed within the capillary chamber. A reagent is proximal to or in contact with at least the working electrode. The reagent includes an enzyme and a mediator. The reagent reacts with glucose to produce an electroactive reaction product. A blood sample, containing glucose, is applied into the capillary chamber. The capillary chamber directs capillary flow of the blood sample into contact with the reagent to cause the blood sample to at least partially solubilize or hydrate the reagent. The blood sample is detected in the capillary chamber. The electroactive reaction product is electro-oxidized or electro-reduced at the working electrode. Within 10 seconds after detecting, a determination is made of glucose concentration and a readout of the measurement is provided. The glucose determination is made by correlating the electro-oxidized or electro-reduced electroactive reaction product to the concentration of glucose in the blood sample.

An inhaler for enabling inhaled administration, has a housing having an outlet duct defining a passageway through which air can be drawn by inhalation on the part of a user. The housing contains a capillary nozzle; a container for containing a quantity of liquid to be supplied to the capillary nozzle; and an electric field controller for applying a voltage to the liquid prior to issue from the container via the capillary nozzle to expose the liquid to an electric field to cause comminution of the liquid emerging from the capillary nozzle to product a spray of electrically charged droplets such that upon inhalation by the user, electrically charged droplets for the deposition in the user's airways.

A combined respiratory and heart rate sensor for a mammal has a flexible support with a surface adapted to be positioned over the skin of a mammal. A pair of inductive coil or capacitive plate elements, spaced apart by a foam spacer having openings therein, are attached to the support surface and are capable of independently sensing respiratory movement of the mammal in a direction perpendicular to the support surface and producing an output signal proportional thereto. The heart rate sensor includes an LED attached to the flexible support capable, and at least two light-detecting elements spaced apart from the LED, each capable of independently sensing light radiation reflected through the skin and capillaries from the light-emitting element and producing an output signal proportional thereto. A barrier layer attached to the support shield from the light-detecting elements light radiation that is not emitted from the LED.

An apparatus and method for determining the density and fluid-type of a fluid flowing in a capillary tube, the velocity and viscosity of a blood sample flowing in a capillary tube, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) of a blood sample after flow has been brought to an abrupt stop in a capillary tube, and/or the zeta sedimentation rate (ZSR) of a blood sample after flow has been brought to an abrupt stop in a capillary tube. These measurements are accomplished by directing a waveform pulse, such as an ultrasound pulse, at a pre-determined frequency transversely across the capillary tube and sample fluid, and by determining the flight of time of the pulse through the capillary tube and sample fluid and/or the Doppler shift of the echo signals reflecting off cells moving forwardly or transversely within a flowing, or stationary, blood sample.

The invention describes novel formulations of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) based on complex aggregates with at least three amphipatic components suspended in a suitable, e.g. pharmaceutically acceptable, polar liquid medium. A suitably ionised NSAID is one of the two, amongst said three, components that tends to destabilise lipid membranes, the other system component with such activity being typically a surfactant. In contrast, the remaining amongst said at least three amphipatic components typically forms a stable lipid membrane on it's own. An essential characteristics of the resulting, relatively large, aggregates is an improved ability to penetrate pores, in a semi-permeable barrier, at least 30%, and often much smaller than the average diameter of the complex aggregate. This enables said aggregates to mediate NSAID transport through semi-permeable barriers including mammalian skin. As a result of the skin penetration by NSAID loaded large aggregates, the drug delivered transcutaneously with such carriers gets deeper into the tissue than the corresponding NSAID from a solution on the skin surface. This is believed to be due to the special ability of suitable large carriers to bypass the local sink of blood capillaries at the epidermal-dermal junction in the skin. The carrier-mediated delivery of locally applied NSAIDs thus allows therapy of deep tissues under the drug administration site, which is medically highly desirable.

A method for accelerating subcutaneous absorption of a fluid or drug into the systemic circulation of a specific targeted tissue. A first drug operative to produce local capillary vasodilatation and/or increase the rate of bulk flow of solution through the interstitial space is mixed with a fluid. The fluid may contain a crystalloid solution or a dilute solution of a pharmacologic drug required for a routine or emergency therapeutic treatment for a patient. The first drug is substantially non-toxic to the patient. The fluid mixed with the first drug is then delivered subcutaneously or into deeper tissues of the patient, by use of a hyperdermic needle or infiltration cannula. As the capillaries are dilated, the fluid is efficiently absorbed and circulated systemically.

The invention relates to improved drug-delivery endoprosthetic device for insertion at a vascular site via catheter placement at the site, comprising: (a) a structural member into the upper and/or lower surface of which one or more micro-deepenings are engraved and/or on which a polymer member is carried, for co-expansion with the polymer member from a contracted state to an expanded state when the device is exposed to said stimulus, (b) optionally a polymer member capable of expanding from a contracted to a stable, expanded state when the polymer member is exposed to a selected stimulus, wherein the device can be delivered from a catheter, with the structural and the optional polymer members in their contracted states, and is adapted to be held in a vessel at the vascular target site by radial pressure against the wall of the vessel, with the structural and the optional polymer members in their expanded states; and wherein the micro-deepenings of said structural member and/or said polymer member comprise a pharmaceutical composition containing one or more active ingredients selected from the group consisting of agents to inhibit or at least reduce excessive proliferation of vessel wall cells, agents to enhance the downstream perfusion of tissue, agents to promote and/or to enhance the neo-formation of capillaries, agents designed to modulate the amount or activity of coagulation factors, agents to reduce the amount of Thrombin- and/or Fibrin-formation, embedded therein for release from the member, with such in its expanded state.

A blood testing tool is provided, which separates blood cells and can collect blood plasma or blood serum with a high yield. The blood testing tool includes an asymmetric porous membrane with a pore size distribution in which an average pore size varies to be reduced continuously or discontinuously in a thickness direction. The porous membrane includes a blood supply portion, a development portion, and a blood-cell blocking portion formed between the blood supply portion and the development portion and pores in the blood cell blocking portion include only pores through which blood cells cannot pass. When blood is supplied to one side with larger pores of the blood supply portion, the blood moves in a direction parallel to a surface of the porous membrane by a capillary phenomenon, but only blood plasma or blood serum moves into the development portion to develop.

An erosion-resistant capillary chip for use with in an infusion pump that is made from a silicon substrate having a first surface that includes a micro groove etched therein and a glass plate laminated to the first surface. The glass plate covers the micro groove so that a micro fluid conduit is created. The glass plate includes an inlet bore that connects with the micro fluid conduit and the silicon substrate includes an outlet bore that connects with the micro fluid conduit so that a drug solution entering the inlet bore from the infusion pump may pass through the micro fluid conduit at a restricted flow rate to the outlet bore and thereafter to a target site of a patient. The micro groove includes a passivation layer made from silicon nitride or silicon carbide that protects the micro groove against erosion from passing fluids having high basic or high acidic pH levels. A method for making the capillary chip is disclosed, as well as an infusion pump incorporating the improved capillary chip.

An extravascular system for accessing the vasculature of a patient including a catheter having an interior surface, a needle disposed within the catheter, and/or a needle cap defining at least one capillary space and including a flexible seal surrounding the at least one capillary space. The flexible seal may engage the interior surface of the catheter. A method of controlling exposure to a liquid from an extravascular system including providing a wicking material positioned adjacent to a flow channel such that any fluid located external to the flow channel is retained by the wicking material. The wicking material may be incorporated into any extravascular system where exposure to liquids is undesirable.

Disclosed is a system and method for real-time microcirculation diagnosis. The system comprises a capillary photographic device, an image capturing device, and a data processing unit. By way of the system, informations about movement behavior of a single red blood cell and the situation of a single capillary are obtained. The method of the present invention comprises the steps of analyzing gray scale of capillary imagine pictures, and producing analytical data and diagram for monitoring movement behavior of a single red blood cell and the situation of a single capillary. The present invention improves the disadvantages of the conventional systems or methods, which only provide an average velocity of red blood cells in a microcirculation system. The system of the present invention does not need a hardware or device for Doppler analysis, and thus decreasing a hardware cost. The present invention can also provide more data and more valuable physiological informations.

Catheter of such a structure that Ti—Ni superelastic allow (SEA) tube has its outside covered with thin-film silicone rubber tube. The SEA tube at part whose flexion is desired is wrought to cut off multiple grooves (crenas) with thin joints left. The covering with the silicone rubber tube is effected without the use of its front end portion in the covering. When a negative pressure is applied to physiological saline placed therein, the front end portion works as a valve, and the silicone rubber tube at the wrought part yields inward so that flexion of the catheter occurs at that part.

An artificial “arterio-venous” permeable hollow fiber capillary membrane system for wound treatment is described, that can be placed onto a wound, under the wound dressing, to enable fluid-/mass exchange, and thus enables pH- and electrolyte regulation, the supply of factors/mediators/medications, the removal of secretion- and/or waste material, and the support of therapeutically applied cells in the wound.

Implant apparatus and method for effecting a controlled heating of tissue within the region of dermis of skin. The heater implants are configured with a thermally insulative generally flat support functioning as a thermal barrier. One surface of this thermal barrier carries one or more polymerically encapsulated heater resistor segments with a lead assemblage exhibiting a 4-point topology. Each of the encapsulated heater segments may be thermally associated with a metal thermal spreader dimensioned in correspondence with and aligned with the heater segments. The implants are located within heating channels at the interface between skin dermis and the next adjacent subcutaneous tissue layer such that the heat spreaders are contactable with the lower region of dermis. During therapy a conformal heat sink is positioned against the skin above the implants and a slight tamponade is applied through the heat sink to assure a proper form of conduction heat transfer. An adjuvant may be employed to infiltrate dermis to significantly lower the thermal threshold transition temperature for dermis or dermis component shrinkage. The method and apparatus also may be employed in the treatment of capillary malformation (port wine stain).

A transmyocardial revascularization system including a plurality of inserts formed of a material to elicit a healing response in tissue of the myocardium and deployment instruments and associated components for deploying the inserts into the wall of the myocardium. The inserts are arranged to be disposed within respective lumens or channels in the wall of the myocardium. The inserts can take various forms, e.g., be solid members, tubular members, or porous members, and may be resorbable, partially resorbable or non-resorbable. In some embodiments the inserts are arranged to be left in place within the channels in the wall of the myocardium to result in plural lumens which enable blood to flow therethrough and into contiguous capillaries. The deployment instruments are arranged to pierce the tissue of the myocardium from either the endocardium or the epicardium to insert the inserts into the myocardium, depending on the particular deployment instrument used. The deployment instruments may make use of a stabilizing device to stabilize them during the procedure of inserting the inserts into the myocardium. A controller may also be provided as part of the system to coordinate the operation of the deployment instrument with the cardiac cycle. The formation of the lumens can be achieved either by the inserts or by some other means, such as a piercing tip or an energy applicator forming a portion of the instrument. The inserts may include one or more of pharmaceuticals, biologically active agents, radiopaque materials, etc.

A system and method for determining a coagulation time, e.g., thrombin time, PT, aPTT, and ACT, of a blood sample deposited in a test cartridge is disclosed. The test cartridge comprises a blood receptacle that is open to the atmosphere into which a blood sample is to be deposited, a vacuum port that is open to atmosphere, and a spiral capillary within the test cartridge having a capillary length and cross-section area, a first capillary end of the spiral capillary open to the blood receptacle and a second capillary end of the spiral capillary open to the vacuum port, whereby the spiral capillary is closed to atmosphere. When a blood sample is deposited in the blood receptacle, a vacuum is drawn through the vacuum port and the blood is drawn through the spiral capillary until coagulation occurs. A pressure change is detected, and the coagulation time is measured.