Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Feldstein, C..
Series of transducers with seven different configurations enable measurement of forces and displacements in heart wall. New transducers small, cause minimal perturbation of heart function and attached and detached without causing excessive tissue damage. All units implanted or removed during single heartbeat, permitting rapid relocation for detail mapping.
Novel manipulator follows movements of arteries and muscles, enabling precise placement of probe or other microsurgical tool in moving tissue. Microprobe assembly is mounted on output of pneumatic servo of commercial noncontracting thickness gage. Pulsations of tissue surface to be penetrated by probe are sensed by gage and followed by servo, eliminating relative motion between tissue and probe.
An apparatus is described for moving a probe that engages moving living tissue such as a heart or an artery that is penetrated by the probe, which moves the probe in synchronism with the tissue to maintain the probe at a constant location with respect to the tissue. The apparatus includes a servo positioner which moves a servo member to maintain a constant distance from a sensed object while applying very little force to the sensed object, and a follower having a stirrup at one end resting on a surface of the living tissue and another end carrying a sensed object adjacent to the servo member. A probe holder has one end mounted on the servo member and another end which holds the probe.
Several parameters of a small region of a muscle tissue or other object, can be simultaneously measured using with minimal traumatizing or damage of the object, a trifunctional transducer which can determine the force applied by a muscle fiber, the displacement of the fiber, and the change in thickness of the fiber. The transducer has three legs with inner ends joined together and outer ends formed to piece the tissue and remain within it. Two of the legs are relatively stiff, to measure force applied by the tissue, and a third leg is relatively flexible to measure displacement of the tissue relative to one or both stiff legs, and with the three legs lying in a common plane so that the force and displacement measurements all relate to the same direction of muscle movements. A flexible loop is attached to one of the stiff legs to measure changes in muscle thickness, with the upper end of the loop fixed to the leg and the lower end of the loop bearing against the surface of the tissue and being free to slide on the leg.
Instrument consisting of compliant fingers with attached semiconductor pickups measures inside contours of narrow vessels. Instrument, originally designed to monitor human arteries, is drawn through vessel to allow finges to follow contours. Lead wires transmit electrical signals to external processing equipment.
Prototype myocardial transducer simultaneously monitors interal force, displacement, and thickness of heart muscle fiber within localized area of heart muscle. Transducer can be placed in area less than 1.5 by 4 mm.
A myocardial transducer for simultaneously measuring force and displacement within a very small area of myocardium is disclosed. The transducer comprised of an elongated body forked at one end to form an inverted Y shaped beam with each branch of the beam constituting a low compliant tine for penetrating the myocardium to a predetermined depth. Bonded to one of the low compliance tines is a small piezoresistive element for converting a force acting on the beam into an electrical signal. A third high compliant tine of the transducer, which measures displacement of the myocardium in a direction in line with the two low compliant tines, is of a length that just pierces the surface membrane. A small piezoresistive element is bonded to the third tine at its upper end where its bending is greatest. Displacement of the myocardium causes a deformation in curvature of the third tine, and the second small piezoresistive element bonded to the surface of its curved end converts its deformation into an electrical signal.
The paper deals with a vibrating microelectrode holder consisting of a support rod attached to the cone of a miniature loudspeaker. This holder facilitates a microelectrode penetration into arterial wall tissue, eliminates surface dimpling, and relieves polarographic artifacts believed to be due to tissue compression. The paper presents construction and performance details of the electrode holder, and evaluates the extent of possible damage incurred during such vibration by measuring electrode motion relative to surrounding tissue in an excised segment of femoral artery in the rabbit. It is concluded that under proper vibratory conditions microelectrodes can be easily inserted into the arterial wall with minimum tissue disturbance.
An arrangement for and method of inserting a glass microelectrode having a tip in the micron range into body tissue is presented. The arrangement includes a microelectrode. The top of the microelectrode is attached to the diaphragm center of a first speaker. The microelectrode tip is brought into contact with the tissue by controlling a micromanipulator. Thereafter, an audio signal is applied to the speaker to cause the microelectrode to vibrate and thereby pierce the tissue surface without breaking the microelectrode tip. Thereafter, the tip is inserted into the tissue to the desired depth by operating the micromanipulator with the microelectrode in a vibratory or non-vibratory state.
Method of implanting myocardium transducer uses special indented pins that are caught and securely held by epicardial fibers. Pins are small enough to cause minimum of trauma to myocardium during implantation or removal.
Microelectrode attached to cone of loudspeaker imparting longitudinal vibrations, penetrates relatively tough tissue of arterial walls easier and with more precise depth control because dimpling is eliminated. Vibrating microelectrode has been successfully used to make accurate oxygen-content measurements in arterial walls.
A miniature transducer for measuring changes of thickness of the myocardium is described. The device is easily implantable without traumatizing the subject, without affecting the normal muscle behavior, and is removable and implantable at a different muscle location. Operating features of the device are described.
A force transducer for measuring dynamic force activity within the heart of a subject essentially consists of a U-shaped beam of low elastic compliance material. Two lines extend from the beams's legs and a long coil spring is attached to the beam. A strain gauge is coupled to one of the beam's legs to sense deflections thereof. The beam with the tines and most of the spring are surrounded by a flexible tube, defining a catheter, which is insertable into a subject's heart through an appropriate artery. The tines are extractable from the catheter for implantation into the myocardium by pushing on the end of the spring which extends beyond the external end of the catheter.
Device consists of highly compliant circular beam attached to piezoresistive strain gage and barbed needle. Radial deflection of myocardium is measured with minimal disturbance of normal heart functions.
Sensor can be installed in left ventricle by means of procedures available for inserting catheter into an artery at body's extremities and manipulating it through vessel and past aortic valve. Metallic tines of device can be used as internal electrode for electrocardiogram.
Two subminiature transducers, one measuring muscle forces and one measuring muscle displacement, can be inserted into heart muscle without interfering with it. Probe, approximately 1 mm (0.04 in), causes no damage to heart muscle. Probe can be rotated to different positions to measure muscle forces from various directions.
The results of a technology transfer of a miniature unidirectional stress transducer, developed for experimental stress analysis in the aerospace field, to applications in bioengineering are reported. By modification of the basic design and innovations in attachment techniques, the transducer was successfully used in vivo on the myocardium of large dogs to record the change in contractile force due to coronary occlusion, reperfusion, and intervention.
Design is described of small, rechargeable, implantable infusor which contains fluid medicament stored under pressure and which dispenses fluid continuously through catheter. Body of infusor is covered by pliable silicone rubber sheath attached to suture pad for securing device.