US 11,730,421 B2
Sepsis detection and monitoring
Steven D. Baker, Beaverton, OR (US); Jotpreet Chahal, Fayetteville, NY (US); Stacey Fitzgibbons, Dewitt, NY (US); Craig .M Meyerson, Syracuse, NY (US); David E. Quinn, Auburn, NY (US); Lori Ann Zapfe, Milroy, IN (US); and Gene J. Wolfe, Pittsford, NY (US)
Assigned to Welch Allyn, Inc., Skaneateles Falls, NY (US)
Filed by Welch Allyn, Inc., Skaneateles Falls, NY (US)
Filed on Mar. 27, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/832,672.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/825,844, filed on Mar. 29, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0305783 A1, Oct. 1, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 5/00 (2006.01); A61B 5/1455 (2006.01); A61B 5/1491 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/412 (2013.01) [A61B 5/1491 (2013.01); A61B 5/14552 (2013.01); A61B 5/6831 (2013.01); A61B 5/742 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A sensor device comprising:
a housing defining a cavity, an inlet to receive fluid pumped from an instrument device, an outlet to return the fluid to a fluid reservoir, and a fluid channel defined inside the cavity between the inlet and the outlet;
a heat pump mounted inside the cavity, the heat pump having a side surface thermally coupled to the fluid channel, and an opposite side surface thermally coupled to a plate, the heat pump configured to induce a temperature change;
a sensor unit aligned with an aperture in the plate, the sensor unit including an optical component and a thermal component, the optical component being configured to measure a vascular endothelial response from the induced temperature change;
a processor; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
calculate the vascular endothelial response as a difference between a first measurement taken before the temperature change and a second measurement taken after the temperature change; and
use the vascular endothelial response to screen for sepsis.