US 12,004,848 B2
Blood flow meter
Deepak Kumar Sharma, Muzaffarnafar (IN)
Assigned to BOSTON SCIENTIFIC MEDICAL DEVICE LIMITED, Galway (IE)
Filed by Boston Scientific Limited, Hamilton (BM)
Filed on Nov. 4, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/672,562.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/755,128, filed on Nov. 2, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2020/0138301 A1, May 7, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 5/027 (2006.01); A61B 5/0215 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/027 (2013.01) [A61B 5/02158 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of using a blood flow meter having a rotor placed in the flow of blood to determine a blood flow rate, the method comprising:
initially permitting the rotor to rotate due to flow of blood over a plurality of blades of the rotor; and thereafter
measuring, using an upstream pressure sensor, an upstream pressure, wherein the upstream pressure is the blood pressure upstream of the rotor;
measuring, using a downstream pressure sensor, a downstream pressure, wherein the downstream pressure is the blood pressure downstream of the rotor;
determining that a differential pressure is not zero, the differential pressure comprising a difference between the downstream pressure and the upstream pressure;
causing an alteration to the rotation of the rotor in response to determining that the differential pressure is not zero;
sensing, using a magnetic encoder, the rotation of the rotor;
generating, using the magnetic encoder and based on the rotation of the rotor, a rotation signal; and
determining, based on the rotation signal, the blood flow rate.