Feedback system for rapid induction of mild hypothermia
View Patent ↗In general, the disclosure presents techniques for control of a cooling garment in response to a signal that is a function of a patient parameter such as body temperature. In particular, a cooling garment that receives a coolant and a carrier gas is placed in contact with the body of a patient. A sensor within the cooling garment may generate a signal as a function of a patient parameter. A controller receives the signal via communication link, and may send a signal to a regulator that may regulate delivery of the coolant and/or carrier gas, for example.
1. A system comprising:
a cooling garment for contacting a portion of the body of a patient, and having a coolant and a carrier gas for delivery to the body of the patient;
a sensor within the cooling garment;
a warm air supply for delivering warm air to the patient; and
a controller for controlling the cooling garment in response to a signal from the sensor and controlling delivery of the warm air.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller controls delivery of at least one of the carrier gas and the coolant.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein controlling the delivery comprises controlling one of a temperature, a pressure, and a flow rate.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the carrier gas is a mixture of more than one gas, and wherein the controller controls a mixing ratio of the carrier gas.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the coolant is a mixture of more than one liquid, and wherein the controller controls a mixing ratio of the coolant.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cooling garment further comprises:
a spacer for separating at least part of the cooling garment from the body defining a space;
a coolant delivery conduit for delivering the coolant to the body in the space;
a carrier gas intake port in the cooling garment for fluidly connecting the space to a carrier gas supply; and
an exit port in the cooling garment for fluidly connecting the space to an exterior environment.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the coolant delivery conduit includes apertures from which the coolant exits the coolant delivery conduit.
8. The system of claim 6 , further comprising a carrier gas mover for circulating the carrier gas within the space.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller controls the speed at which the carrier gas mover circulates the carrier gas.
10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the carrier gas mover includes one of a fan, a pressurized gas supply, and a pump.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller further comprises a processor for receiving the signal.
12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a communication link that relays the signal from the sensor to the processor.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the communication link is one of an optical fiber link, a wireless link, and a wire link.
14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor includes one of an oxygen sensor, a carbon dioxide sensor, a velocity Doppler probe, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, and an electroencephalograph (EEG) sensor.
15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cooling garment includes a headgear for contacting at least a portion of the head.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the headgear further includes an inner and outer shell.
17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cooling garment includes a body gear for contacting at least a portion of the body.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the body gear includes at least one of an upper body gear and a lower body gear.
19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the upper body gear is adapted to cover at least a portion of the armpit of the body.
20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the lower body gear is adapted to cover at least a portion of the groin of the body.
21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the garment includes:
a headgear for contacting at least a portion of the head; and
a body gear for contacting at least a portion of the body.
22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the controller controls the headgear independently from the body gear.
23. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cooling garment includes:
an inner shell configured to be proximate to a body part of the patient when in use, a space between the body part and the inner shell being an inner space;
an outer shell surrounding the inner shell, a space between the outer shell and the inner shell being an outer space in fluid communication with the inner space; and
an exit port for expelling the coolant in gaseous form and the carrier gas.
24. The system of claim 1 , wherein the patient suffers from one of a brain injury, a stroke, and cardiac arrest.
25. A method comprising:
delivering a carrier gas and a coolant to a cooling garment in contact with the body of a patient;
generating a signal as a function of a patient parameter via a sensor within the cooling garment; and
controlling the cooling garment in response to the generated signal, wherein controlling the cooling garment includes:
operating the cooling garment to cool the patient at a first rate, and operating the cooling garment to cool the patient at a second rate in response to the generated signal, and wherein operating the cooling garment to cool the patient at a second rate in response to the generated signal includes operating the cooling garment to cool the patient at a second rate in response to a temperature of the patient falling below a frostbite temperature.
26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the sensor is in contact with the body of the patient.
27. The method of claim 25 , wherein the sensor is proximate to the body of the patient.
28. The method of claim 25 , wherein the sensor includes one of a velocity Doppler probe, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, and an electroencephalograph (EEG) sensor, an oxygen sensor, a carbon dioxide sensor, and a heart rate sensor.
29. The method of claim 25 , further comprising relaying the signal to a processor via a communication link.
30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the communication link relaying the signal is one of an optical fiber link, a wireless link, and a wire link.
31. The method of claim 30 , wherein controlling the delivery comprises controlling one of a temperature, a pressure, a mixing ratio, and a flow rate.
32. The method of claim 29 , further comprising controlling delivery of at least one of a coolant, a carrier gas, and a warm air supply.
33. The method of claim 25 , wherein controlling the cooling apparatus further comprises:
receiving a signal from a communication link;
comparing the signal with a target value input by a user to determine whether the cooling garment is within an appropriate operating range; and
sending a regulation signal to a regulator when the cooling garment is not within the appropriate operating range.
34. The method of claim 25 , wherein the cooling garment includes a headgear and a body gear, and controlling the cooling garment includes controlling the headgear and body gear individually.
35. The method of claim 25 , wherein the patient parameter is one of oxygen saturation levels, blood flow, heart rate, brain electrical action, end tidal carbon dioxide levels.
36. A system comprising:
a coolant supply for supplying coolant to a cooling garment that contacts a portion of a body of a patient;
a carrier gas supply for supplying carrier gas to the cooling garment;
a warm air supply for supplying warm air to a body part of the patient when in use; and
a regulator for regulating at least one of the coolant supply, the carrier gas supply and the warm air supply as a function of a patient parameter.
37. The system of claim 36 , wherein the patient parameter includes one of oxygen saturation levels, blood flow, heart rate, brain electrical action, end tidal carbon dioxide levels.
38. The system of claim 36 , wherein the regulator regulates at least one of a temperature, a pressure, a mixing ratio, and a flow rate of at least one of the coolant supply, the carrier gas supply, and the warm air supply.
39. The system of claim 36 , wherein the cooling garment includes a headgear and a body gear.
40. The system of claim 36 , further comprising a controller for receiving a signal as a function of a patient parameter, and sends a regulation signal to the regulator.