Multi-fluid medical injector system and methods of operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9474857-B2
Application number	US-201314041920-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2013
Priority date	Jul 24, 2009
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

A multi-fluid injector system and methods of operation thereof are presented. One embodiment of such a fluid injector system includes an automatic refill procedure for a fluid injector system comprising a fluid injector and an operably engaged syringe. The procedure includes the step of determining, using an electronic control device operably controlling the fluid injector system, whether a fluid injection procedure involving the syringe is impending. If the electronic control device determines that the fluid injection procedure is not impending, such that the automatic refill will not interfere with the fluid injection procedure, an automatic refill of the syringe is initiated.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An automatic refill procedure for a fluid injector system comprising a fluid injector and an operably engaged syringe, the procedure comprising:
providing at least one hand controller configured to operate at least a portion of the fluid injector system;
providing at least one sensor disposed in the at least one hand controller, the at least one sensor comprising at least one of the following: an accelerometer, a position sensor, an orientation sensor, a capacitance touch sensor, a thermal sensor, or any combination thereof;
providing at least one processor in communication with the fluid injector system;
determining, with the at least one processor, if a fluid injection procedure involving the syringe is impending based at least partially on inactivity of the at least one hand controller of the fluid injector system for a certain period of time, wherein the inactivity of the at least one hand controller for the certain period of time is determined based at least partially on the at least one sensor in the at least one hand controller, and indicates that the fluid injection procedure involving the syringe is not impending; and
initiating, with the at least one processor, an automatic refill of the syringe in response to determining that the fluid injection procedure involving the syringe is not impending, such that the automatic refill does not interfere with an impending fluid injection procedure.

2. The automatic refill procedure of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor comprises a timer for monitoring the inactivity of the at least one hand controller of the fluid injector system, and wherein the inactivity of the at least one hand controller for the certain period of time indicates that the automatic refill of the syringe will not interfere with the impending fluid injection procedure.

3. The automatic refill procedure of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor in the at least one hand controller signals to the at least one processor that the at least one hand controller is inactive.

4. The automatic refill procedure of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining if a preprogrammed trigger minimum volume is present in the syringe.

5. The automatic refill procedure of claim 4 , wherein the preprogrammed trigger minimum volume is at least partially determined by or from at least one of the following: tracking a fluid volume dispensed from the syringe during operation of the fluid injector system, a fluid level sensor associated with the syringe, an amount of fluid to perform a next fluid injection procedure, or any combination thereof.

6. The automatic refill procedure of claim 4 , wherein the preprogrammed trigger minimum volume is determined to be present in the syringe when, at the completion of a fluid injection procedure, there is not enough fluid to perform a next fluid injection procedure.

7. The automatic refill procedure of claim 1 , wherein the initiated automatic refill refills the syringe without inducing a vacuum condition in the syringe.

8. A fluid injector system comprising a fluid injector and an operably engaged syringe, comprising:
at least one hand controller configured to operate at least a portion of the fluid injector system;
at least one sensor disposed in the at least one hand controller, the at least one sensor comprising at least one of the following: an accelerometer, a position sensor, an orientation sensor, a capacitance touch sensor, a thermal sensor, or any combination thereof; and
at least one processor in communication with the fluid injector system, the at least one processor configured to:
determine if at least one fluid injection procedure involving the syringe is impending based at least partially on inactivity of the at least one hand controller of the fluid injector system for a certain period of time, wherein the inactivity of the at least one hand controller for the certain period of time is determined based at least partially on the at least one sensor in the hand controller, and indicates that the fluid injection procedure involving the syringe is not impending; and
initiate an automatic refill of the syringe if the at least one fluid injection procedure is not determined to be impending, such that the automatic refill of the syringe will not interfere with the fluid injection procedure.

9. The fluid injector system of claim 8 , wherein the determination if at least one fluid injection procedure involving the syringe is impending is based at least partially on at least one of the following: a movement of the at least one hand controller, an orientation of the at least one hand controller, a physical contact between the at least one hand controller and an individual, or any combination thereof.

Assignees

• Medrad Inc
• Bayer Healthcare Llc

Inventors

• Riley Michael A
• Schriver Ralph H
• Barlow William D
• Joyce Thomas P
• Maihoefer Andreas

Classifications

• A61M5/14546

  Front-loading type injectors · CPC title

• A61M5/1458

  Means for capture of the plunger flange · CPC title

• A61M5/16827

  controlling delivery of multiple fluids, e.g. sequencing, mixing or via separate flow-paths (infusion of multiple fluids without using a controller A61M5/1407) · CPC title

• A61M5/007 Primary

  for contrast media · CPC title

• A61M2005/1403

  Flushing or purging · CPC title