224 results about "Pleural effusion" patented technology

This patent document discusses, among other things, systems, devices, and methods for predicting an occurrence of impending thoracic fluid accumulation and in one example, invoking a responsive therapy, such as to prevent or minimize the consequences of the impending thoracic fluid accumulation. One example of the present systems, devices, and methods senses or receives at least one parameter that is statistically associated with impending thoracic fluid accumulation from a subject. Using such parameter(s), a probability of impending thoracic fluid accumulation is estimated. A list of parameters determines which values are recurrently sensed or received at various desired time intervals. Another example of the present systems, devices, and methods weights the sensed or received parameter value(s) to compute the probability estimate of impending thoracic fluid accumulation. A responsive preventive thoracic fluid accumulation therapy or other therapy is selected and activated using the probability estimate of impending thoracic fluid accumulation.

The presence of tumor nodules in organs often results in serious clinical manifestations and the permeation by cancer cells of sheaths surrounding organs often produces clinical manifestations of pleural effusion, ascites or cerebral edema. The present invention addresses this problem by providing a method for treating tumors comprising (a) intratumoral administration of a superantigen and/or (b) intrathecal or intracavitary administration of a superantigen directly into the sheath. Intratumoral superantigen results in significant and sustained reduction of the tumor size. Intrathecal administration produces significant sustained reduction of the fluid accumulation associated with clinical improvement and prolonged survival. Useful superantigen compositions for intrathecal and intratumoral injection include tumoricidally effective homologues, fragments and fusion proteins of native superantigens. Also disclosed is combined therapy that includes intratumoral or intrathecal superantigen compositions in combination with (i) intratumoral low, non-toxic doses of one or more chemotherapeutic drugs or (ii) systemic chemotherapy at reduced and non-toxic doses of chemotherapeutic drugs.

Method and system for the detection of interval change in medical images. Three dimensional images, such as previous and current section images in CT scans, are obtained. An anatomic feature, such as the lungs, is used to select sections containing lung by a gray-level thresholding technique. The section correspondence between the current and previous scans is determined automatically. The initial registration of the corresponding sections in the two scans is achieved by a rotation correction and a cross-correlation technique. A more accurate registration between the corresponding current and previous section images is achieved by local matching. A nonlinear warping process which is also based on the cross-correlation technique is applied to the previous image to yield a warped image after the matching. The final subtracted section images were derived by subtracting of the previous section images from the corresponding current section images. Interval changes such as a change in tumor size and a newly developed pleural effusion are enhanced significantly.

A fluid management system for the treatment of ascites, pleural effusion or pericardial effusion is provided including an implantable device including a pump, control circuitry, battery and transceiver; a charging and communication system configured to periodically charge the battery and communicate with the implantable device to retrieve performance data; and monitoring and control software, suitable for use with conventional personal computers, for configuring and controlling operation of the implantable device and charging and communication system. The implantable device includes a number of features that provide automated movement of fluid to the bladder with reduced risk of clogging, with no patient involvement other than occasional recharging of the battery of the implantable device. The monitoring and control software is available only to the treating physician, such that the physician interacts with the implantable device via the charging and communication system.

The invention describes the use of a pharmaceutical preparation containing a trifunctional bispecific and/or trispecific having the following properties:

• a) binding to a T cell;
• b) binding to at least an antigen on a tumor cell associated with malignant ascites and/or pleural effusion;
• c) binding, by its Fc portion (in the case of bispecific antibodies) or by a third specificity (in the case of trispecific antibodies), to Fc receptor-positive cells for the destruction of the tumor cells in the treatment of malignant ascites and/or pleural effusion.

The invention relates to a circulating tumor cell separation micro-fluidic chip device and an application method thereof. The device comprises a micro-fluidic chip (1) and a chip fixture (2). The micro-fluidic chip (1) comprises a chip inlet (11), a single-screw chip (12), rare cell collection tubes (13, 14) and a leucocyte outlet (15). A single-screw channel starts from the chip inlet (11) at the center of a circular spiral channel, passes through a semicircular starting channel and enters a spiral micro-fluidic channel. The tail end contains three outlets: rare cells with different particle sizes are respectively collected; and the chip fixture (2) is automatically in butt joint with inlet and outlet of the micro-fluidic chip (1). In comparison with the prior art, the micro-fluidic chip device of the invention has the following beneficial effects: a treated sample can be automatically subjected to automated high-throughput tumor cell separation and tumor cells in a liquid sample such as peripheral blood/pleural effusion/cerebrospinal fluid, etc. of a cancer patient can be enriched; and cancer patient diagnosis and customized treatment specificity and accuracy are remarkably enhanced.

A device for the drainage of a pleural effusion through an operatively engaged chest tube in the chest wall. The device employs a check valve situated between a vacuum source communicating with the chest tube to prevent reversal of the fluid flow out of the patient's body and possible contamination. A valve mounted on a vacuum bottle provides user control of communication of negative pressure from the vacuum bottle to the chest tube. Opening the valve on the bottle communicates negative pressure to the chest tube relative to the pressure in the tube thereby initiating a fluid flow out of the tube and the patient. Once the valve on the bottle is closed, fluid flow ceases and the check valve prevents reversal of the flow.

The invention relates to a medical needle which is applicable to a drainage treatment of pneumothorax, in particular to tensive pneumothorax, and is applicable to the drainage treatment of pleural effusion. The invention adopts the technical proposal that: the needle is a disposable thorax drainage needle; a cavity is arranged in a drainage conduit port base which is provided with a side drainage conduit that is connected with the base, extends to the outside and is communicated with a drainage conduit; one end of the side drainage conduit, which is connected with the drainage conduit port base, is positioned at the front end of the cavity; the tail end of the side drainage conduit is provided with at least a port which is provided and connected with an emergency end cover that is a unidirectional gas valve; by adopting the technical proposal, the invention provides a disposable thorax drainage needle which is applicable to pneumothorax drainage treatment, in particular to tensive pneumotharox, and is applicable to the drainage treatment of pleural effusion, and the needle is not easy to damage intercostal vessels in puncturing and drains gas rapidly.

The use of classical superantigens for treatment of cancer has resulted in a low response rates and serious toxicity in humans which is attributable, in part, to the presence of preformed superantigen specific antibodies in the plasma of treated patients. The present invention addresses this problem by providing a method for treating tumors comprising the administration of one or a plurality of egc (enterotoxin gene cluster) staphylococcal enterotoxins comprising staphylococcal enterotoxins G, I, M, N, O. These superantigens in native unmodified form can be administered intrathecally, intratumorally, intravenously to humans with advanced lung cancer while resolving pleural effusions and prolonging survival to 300% above control patients treated with talc pleurodesis. Intratumoral egc superantigens induces a significant and sustained reduction of the tumor size. In contrast to classic Sags, the egc superantigens induced minimal toxicity, are rarely associated with the presence of preformed antibodies and are used as a plurality with a broad T cell Vβ profile. Useful egc superantigen compositions for parenteral administration native egc enterotoxins, homologues, fragments and fusion proteins of native egc enterotoxins capable of activating a broad spectrum of T cells expressing T cell receptor/α motifs. T cell survival-enhancing cytokines IL-7, Il-15, Il-23 are used. together with parenteral egc SE therapy. Also disclosed is combined therapy that includes parenteral, intratumoral or intrathecal superantigen compositions in combination with (i) intratumoral low, non-toxic doses of one or more chemotherapeutic drugs or (ii) systemic chemotherapy at reduced and non-toxic doses of chemotherapeutic drugs or (iii) radiation therapy or (iv) anti-angiogenic and tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

An embodiment of the present invention is useful for identifying tumor cells in bladder cancer washes, pleural effusions, biliary tumor cells and circulating tumor cells in whole blood. Subsequent analysis may identify therapeutic treatments based on a single cell analysis of activatable elements in cell signaling pathways. This analysis can be useful for diagnosis, prognosis, therapy selection and monitoring of solid tumor diseases.

The invention relates to a double-screw micro-fluidic chip which comprises a chip inlet, a double-screw chip, an erythrocyte outlet, a leukocyte outlet, a fluid outlet and a cell filter membrane, wherein the chip is composed of two-screw-type channels, the two-screw-type channels are respectively punched along two tangent line directions of two mutually parallel chips to form two parallel reversed openings, one opening is connected with the chip inlet, and the other opening is respectively connected with the erythrocyte outlet, the leukocyte outlet and the fluid outlet. The double-screw micro-fluidic chip is capable of automatically feeding, dyeing and washing a sample, and automatically separating and enriching leukocytes in blood or/and pleural effusion of a patient suffering from leucocythemia at a high flux, thereby greatly improving diagnosis accuracy and precision; meanwhile, the double-screw micro-fluidic chip can be further used for separating in-vivo diseased leukocytes of the patient, and has a good treatment effect.

The invention discloses a novel Chinese medicinal composition for treating edema and a preparation method thereof. The Chinese medicinal composition mainly comprises the following raw material medicaments: Indian buead, largehead atractylodes rhizome, common yam rhizome, pyrrosia leaf, ricepaperplant pith, Mongolian snakegourd root, immature bitter orange, Szechwan chinaberry fruit, Chinese eaglewood, green tangerine peel, Chicken's gizzard-membrane, mix-fried pangolin scales, rhubarb, atraotydin, officinal magnolia bark, coix seed, oriental waterplantain rhizome, plantain seed, Japanese climbing fern spore, cassia twig, ash bark, lightyellow sophora root, densefruit pittany root-bark, gentian, glossy privet fruit, turtle shell, tortoise plastron, Chinese leek seed and the like. The Chinese medicinal composition can be prepared into any common oral preparation by the conventional Chinese medicinal preparation method. The Chinese medicinal composition can obviously improve symptoms such as edema, dropsy of limbs and faces, ascites, pleural effusion, seroperitoneum, hydrophobia and the like. The Chinese medicinal composition has the advantages of exact clinical effects, obvious curative effect, quick response, low cost, basically no toxic or side effects and the like.

A system for noninvasively monitoring cancerous cells within bodily fluid accumulated due to ascites, pleural effusion or pericardial effusion is provided including an implantable pump having control circuitry; a charging and communication system configured to periodically charge and communicate with the implantable pump to retrieve performance data; and monitoring and control software, suitable for use with conventional personal computers, for configuring and controlling operation of the implantable pump and charging and communication system. The implantable pump is configured to move fluid containing cancerous cells from a body cavity to the bladder such that the fluid may be excreted during urination, collected and analyzed with an analysis station to assess progress of the cancer or efficacy of a cancer treatment program.

A fluid management system for moving bodily fluid accumulated due to ascites, pleural effusion or pericardial effusion is provided including an implantable pump coupled to an inflow catheter, an outflow catheter, and optionally an anti-clog catheter. The fluid management system facilitates removal of fluid from a body region, such as the peritoneum, pleural cavity or pericardial sac, where drainage is desired to another body region, such as the urinary bladder or the peritoneal cavity. The system includes clog resistant mechanisms such as clog resistant catheters and/or programmed routines for cycling fluid through inlet catheters in predetermined time intervals and/or responsive to sensed conditions to minimize the risk that inlet catheters become clogged due to, for example, tissue ingrowth and/or solid objects within accumulated fluid.

The invention discloses a pleural effusion drainage puncture device for a chest oncology department, which comprises a fixing base; the middle part of the bottom end of the fixing base is equipped with a rotary screw, and the upper end of the rotary screw is equipped with a fixing plate; the lower end of the rotary screw is equipped with a rotating plate, and the upper end of the fixing base is equipped with a supporting pillar; the middle part of the top end of the supporting pillar is equipped with a rotating shaft through the bearing, both ends of the middle part of the rotating shaft are equipped with rotating cams; inside of the upper end of the supporting pillar is provided with an installing slot, the inner part of the installing slot is equipped with a lifting frame; the bottom endof the inner part of the lifting frame is equipped with a lifting spring, the upper end of the lifting spring is equipped with a lifting plate; both sides of the lower end of the lifting plate are equipped with lifting pillars, bottom ends of the lifting pillars are equipped with moving plates; lower ends of the moving plates are equipped with fixing sleeves, the inner parts of the fixing sleevesare equipped with screw bars; slide blocks are installed in the middle part of the screw bars, the middle parts of the screw bars are equipped with slide blocks; the lower ends of the slide blocks are equipped with limiting pillars. An insert needle can be exactly inserted to thoracic cavity, so as to avoid manually keeping one gesture for a long time and reduce the labor intensity of medical staff; the practicability is strong.

Compositions that contain valine as an active ingredient but which are entirely free of other amino acids or substantially free of amino other acids as an active ingredient are used as drugs or foods for treating or ameliorating hepatic diseases, whereupon less side effects are caused than in the conventional regimens of pharmacotherapy and yet the compositions ameliorate, palliate or gain recovery from symptoms and abnormalities that are caused by such hepatic diseases, for example, fever, lassitude, loss of appetite, vomiting stomachache, ascites and pleural effusion, or complications of hepatic disease (not including hepatic encephalopathy).

A method for automatically identifying a potential pleural effusion in medical image data of a thorax of a patient from a scan by means of a medical scanner is provided. It includes at least the steps of accepting rib cage detection data of the rib cage of the patient from the image data, which rib cage detection data include rib cage extent data of a rib cage extent of the interior of the rib cage, accepting lung detection data of the lung of the patient from the image data, which lung detection data comprise lung extent data of a lung extent of the external boundary of the lung, accepting mediastinum detection data of all organs of the mediastinum in the thorax (Th) of the patient from the image data, which mediastinum detection data comprise mediastinum extent data of a mediastinum extent of the external boundary of the mediastinum, and subtracting the lung extent and the mediastinum extent from the rib cage extent while forming pleural effusion identification data.

The invention discloses a new traditional Chinese medicine combination and a preparation method thereof for hydrothorax treatment; the traditional Chinese medicine combination includes the following source medicines: cinnamon, pinellia ternate, ligusticum wallichii, storax, semen lepidii, pyrrosia lingua, rhizoma atractylodis, mangnolia officinalis, poria cocos, rhizoma acori graminei, ricepaperplant pith, notopterygium root, plantain seed, dried tangerine, immature bitter orange, cyperus rotundus, szechwan Chinaberry fruit, aspongopus, rhizoma sparganii, zedoary root, pangolin and angelica and the like. The traditional Chinese medicine combination can be prepared into any type of common oral preparation according to the conventional traditional Chinese medicine preparation method. The invention can significantly improve the symptoms of pleural effusion, hydrothorax, phlegmatic fluid, sputum, shortness of breath, palpitations, choking sensation in chest, expiratory dyspnea, doldrums, difficult breathing, and also has definite clinical curative effect, significant curative and quick effect. As the traditional Chinese medicine combination basically combines medicinal and edible medicine sources specified in the National Formulary, the traditional Chinese medicine combination has low cost and basically has no toxic and side effect.

The invention aims to provide an efficient amplification method of TILs serving as sources of cancerous pleural effusion. The TILs prepared with the method have the advantages of being high in multiplication speed, large in number, high in cell activity and the like. The method is mainly characterized in that by utilizing a cultivation bottle coated by laminin protein and fibronectin, the TILs are cultivated. The adsorption effect of the two kinds of protein can make cells in half-adherence state, therefore, the cells are favorable for being stimulated by various factors, and the two kinds of protein has the multiplication promoting effect on the TILs; by using a resistant OX-40 monoclone antibody, co-stimulatory signals of CD3+CD8+T cell subgroups in the TILs can be stimulated, cell activation is promoted, the expression of cell perforin and granular enzyme is improved, and the killing capacity of the TILs is enhanced. So far, the study report that the laminin protein, the fibronectin and the resistant OX-40 monoclone antibody are combined and used for preparing the TILs has not been given, and the method for increasing the cell number and improving the killing activity by adding the three factors in preparation of the TILs is put forward for the first time.

The invention discloses a traditional Chinese medicine composition for treating the malignant pleural effusion. The malignant pleural effusion belongs to the scope of pleural effusions in fluid-retention syndromes in the traditional Chinese medicine. The pathogenesis mainly comprises asthenia in origin, asthenia in superficiality and intermingled deficiency and excess, wherein the asthenia in origin refers to lung, spleen and kidney qi deficiency, and the asthenia in superficiality refers to turbid phlegm, retained fluid, blood stasis and stagnation of the circulation of vital energy. Traditional Chinese medicines including jacobinia suberecta, veronicastrum herbs, potentilla parvifolia fisch, fringed iris herbs, wusuli dragonflyorchis rhizome, phaenosperma globosa, chorion ovi, field sowthistle herb, polygonatum verticillatum, paris polyphylla, solanum lyratum and Indian strawberry which have the effects of invigorating the spleen for eliminating dampness, purging the lung of pathogenic fire to facilitate water retention and relieving internal heat or fever to resist cancers are selected for preparing the traditional Chinese medicine composition, and the traditional Chinese medicine is decocted with water to form decoctions. Clinical tests in the hospital show that the total effective rate is 94.1%, and the treatment effect is remarkable.

A single step body insertion device comprises a cannula and a Veress needle which penetrates the skin surface and relevant tissue layers to reach fluid and/or gases that need to be removed from the body. The cannula shaft and tapered tip are of a polymeric material which is flexible and kink resistant. The Veress needle has an engagement feature for engagement with the tapered tip of the cannula for delivery of the cannula into the body as the Veress needle is inserted into the body. The device is used for the management of conditions such as pneumothoraxes and pleural effusions as well as other conditions that require release of fluid and/or gas from the body.

The invention discloses a medicine for treating lung cancer pleural effusion. The medicine is prepared from the following raw materials: kansui root, euphorbia pekinensis, lilac daphne flower bud, semen brassicae, semen lepidii, cortex mori radicis, pinellia ternate, Chinese-date, grifola, poria cocos, cassia twig, plantain herb, bighead atractylodes rhizome, oldenlandia diffusa, Chinese lobelia, semen coicis, trichosanthes peel, root of red-rooted salvia, roasted draba nemorosa, verbena, perillaseed, rhizoma pinellinae praeparata, tribulus terrestris, herba lycopi, bunge pricklyash seed, reddish orange, leech, allium macrostemon, almond, liquorice, root of straight ladybell, radix ophiopogonis, radix polygonati officinalis, radices trichosanthis, cortex lycii radicis, woodlouse, bombyx batryticatus, earthworm, cricket, mole cricket, glycoalkaloids, bufo gargarizans, salvia chinensis, radix sophorae flavescentis, rhizoma pleionis, burdock, subprostrate sophora root, tripterygium glycosides, turtle shell, elecampane, frankincense, myrrh, bighead atractylodes rhizome, corydalis tuber and radix paeoniae alba. The medicine has obvious effects of discharging water and removing stasis on a patient with lung cancer pleural effusion, simultaneously can be used for tonifying qi, relieving cough and reducing sputum, nourishing the blood, promoting blood circulation and relieving pain, and resolving hard lumps and eliminating mass, so that the living quality of the patient is improved, the life is prolonged, and the effective rate can reach 90%.