Patent ID: 11931112
Assignee: BARD ACCESS SYSTEMS, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 13:
14. A method for determining a tip of a medical device is located within a superior vena cava (“SVC”), comprising:
advancing the tip of the medical device through a vasculature of a patient toward the SVC, the medical device including an integrated optical-fiber stylet having a plurality of fiber Bragg grating (“FBG”) sensors along at least a distal-end portion of the optical-fiber stylet for shape sensing with a shape-sensing system including the medical device;
enabling input optical signals to be sent into the optical-fiber stylet while advancing the tip of the medical device through the vasculature of the patient;
enabling FBG sensor-reflected optical signals to be received from the optical-fiber stylet while advancing the tip of the medical device through the vasculature of the patient;
enabling the FBG sensor-reflected optical signals received from the optical-fiber stylet to be algorithmically converted into a plot of curvature vs. time for each FBG sensor of the FBG sensors;
identifying on a display screen of the shape-sensing system an instantaneous increase in the plot of curvature vs. time for each FBG sensor of a last three FBG sensors in the distal-end portion of the optical-fiber stylet followed by an instantaneous decrease in the plot of curvature vs. time for each FBG sensor of the last three FBG sensors in the distal-end portion of the optical-fiber stylet at a moment the tip of the medical device is advanced into the SVC, thereby determining the tip of the medical device is located within the SVC; and
confirming the tip of the medical device is in the SVC by way of periodic changes in the plot of curvature vs. time for each FBG sensor of the last three FBG sensors in the distal-end portion of the optical-fiber stylet, the periodic changes in the plot of curvature vs. time for each FBG sensor of the last three FBG sensors in the distal-end portion of the optical-fiber stylet resulting from periodic changes in blood flow within the SVC as a heart of the patient beats.