CPC A61B 5/028 (2013.01) [A61B 5/015 (2013.01); A61B 5/02154 (2013.01); A61M 5/007 (2013.01); A61B 2090/3614 (2016.02); A61B 2562/0266 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0271 (2013.01); A61B 2562/043 (2013.01)] | 17 Claims |
1. A system for determining blood flow within a blood vessel, the system comprising:
a fluid infusion device configured to continuously infuse a fluid into the blood vessel at an infusion rate that generates a mixture of the fluid and blood within the blood vessel;
at least one sensor configured to simultaneously measure a plurality of temperature values at a plurality of locations along a length of the blood vessel to determine a temperature profile along the length of the blood vessel;
a temperature values determining processor configured to:
determine, based on the plurality of temperature values, a first temperature value at a first location along the length of the blood vessel, the first temperature value indicating temperature of the fluid, and
determine, based on the plurality of temperature values, a second temperature value at a second location along the length of the blood vessel, the second temperature value indicating temperature of the mixture; and
a blood flow determining processor configured to:
determine the blood flow within the blood vessel based on the first temperature value, the second temperature values, and the infusion rate;
and further comprising:
an assessment processor configured to determine a quality value indicating a degree of mixing of the fluid and the blood based on the plurality of temperature values measured at the plurality of locations along the length of the blood vessel.
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