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US4476870A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Fiber optic PO.sbsb.2 probe

Assignee: United States Department of Health and Human Services
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Filing: 1982-07-07
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Granted: 1984-10-16
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Expires: 2002-07-07
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Abstract

Abstract A fiber optic probe to be implanted in human body tissue for physiologic studies involving measurement and monitoring of the partial pressure of gaseous oxygen in the blood stream, which is coursing through a particular blood vessel in the body. The use of the probe is based on the principle of dye fluorescence oxygen quenching. Structurally the probe comprises two 150-micrometer strands of plastic optical fiber ending in a section of porous polymer tubing serving as a jacket or envelope for the fibers. The tubing is packed with a suitable fluorescent light-excitable dye placed on a porous adsorptive particulate polymeric support. The tubing or jacket is usually made of a hydrophobic, gas-permeable commercial material, known as Celgard, but other suitable hydrophobic gas-permeable material could be used for such structure. The fiber optic probe of the invention is of very small size and flexible so that it can easily be threaded through small blood vessels which are located in a variety of tissues of the body.

Inventors

  • 👤 John I. Peterson
  • 👤 Raphael V. Fitzgerald

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-23 12:49
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01N; G01N21/00; G01N21/75; G01N21/77; G01N21/7703; A; A61; A61B; A61B5/00; A61B5/145; A61B5/1455; A61B5/1459; G01N21/62; G01N21/63; G01N21/64; G01N21/6428; G01N21/645; G01N2021/6484; G01N2021/7706; G01N2021/772; G01N2021/7769; G01N2021/7786

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim 118 words
A probe for determining P O .sbsb.2 in the blood or tissue of a living animal, comprising: an oxygen-porous jacket of a size sufficiently small to be passed into a blood vessel; a porous dye support carried within said jacket, said dye support and said jacket having sufficiently high permeability to permit the exposure of individual dye molecules carried thereby to oxygen collision; a non-toxic luminescent dye carried by said porous dye support, said dye being excitable by visible light, having and sufficiently great stability to aging to permit storage without substantial change of dye characteristics, and being oxygen quenching-sensitive; and fiber optic means to pass excitation light to said dye within said jacket and collect luminescence therefrom.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 118 words
A probe for determining P O .sbsb.2 in the blood or tissue of a living animal, comprising: an oxygen-porous jacket of a size sufficiently small to be passed into a blood vessel; a porous dye support carried within said jacket, said dye support and said jacket having sufficiently high permeability to permit the exposure of individual dye molecules carried thereby to oxygen collision; a non-toxic luminescent dye carried by said porous dye support, said dye being excitable by visible light, having and sufficiently great stability to aging to permit storage without substantial change of dye characteristics, and being oxygen quenching-sensitive; and fiber optic means to pass excitation light to said dye within said jacket and collect luminescence therefrom.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 12 words
A probe according to claim 1, wherein said dye is perylene dibutyrate.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 19 words
A probe according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said porous dye support is a porous organic polymer.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 15 words
A probe according to claim 1, and wherein said porous dye support comprises silica gel.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 19 words
A probe according to claim 1, and wherein said porous dye support comprises a porous adsorptive particulate polymeric material.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 15 words
A probe according to claim 1, and wherein said porous dye support comprises Amberlite XAD4.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 18 words
A probe according to claim 1, and wherein said oxygen-porous jacket comprises a tubular envelope of porous material.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 15 words
A probe according to claim 7, and wherein said tubular envelope is formed of Celgard.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 34 words
A probe according to claim 1, and wherein said oxygen-porous jacket comprises porous polypropylene sheet material heat-sealed into tubing, closed at one end and provided at said closed end with a tapered closure tip.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 35 words
A probe according to claim 1, and wherein said fiber optic means comprises at least one strand of transparent plastic fiber with one end extending into said jacket and being optically exposed to said dye.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 33 words
A probe according to claim 1, and wherein said fiber optic means comprises two strands of transparent flexible plastic fiber with ends extending into said jacket and being optically exposed to said dye.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 89 words
A probe according to claim 1, and wherein said fiber optic means includes a strand of transparent plastic fiber with one end extending into said jacket and being optically exposed to said dye, optical beam-splitting means optically exposed to the other end of said plastic fiber and forming two spaced optical beams from the light transmitted through the fiber, respective photoelectric signal generating means in the paths of said two optical beams, and P O .sbsb.2 computing circuit means connected to the outputs of said photoelectric signal generating means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 31 words
A probe according to claim 12, and respective different-color filter means optically interposed in the paths of the two optical beams between the beam-splitting means and the photoelectric signal generating means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 55 words
A probe according to claim 13, and wherein one color filter means passes only light corresponding to the luminescence wavelength of the dye, and the other color filter means passes light only of a color corresponding to that of scattered incident light to which the dye is exposed and which is reflected from the dye.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US3612866A Cited
US4003707A Cited
US4215940A Cited
US4269516A Cited
US4200110A Cited
US4306877A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1987-10-16 1988-04-16 1988-10-16 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1991-10-16 1992-04-16 1992-10-16 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 1995-10-16 1996-04-16 1996-10-16 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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