Patent ID: 8911469
Filing Date: 2014-12-16
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. An Optimal Remote Ischemic Preconditioning (ORIP) method for non-invasively inducing transient, repetitive and alternating ischemia and reperfusion of at least a pair of remote organs including a first limb and a second contralateral limb in a treatment regimen that renders maximal systemic protection to one or more of other targeted body organs of a patient in minimal possible dosing time and patient discomfort, either against acute injury caused by reperfusion of the target organ(s) after prolonged ischemia, or for increasing the threshold of the target organs to withstand acute or chronic physiological and pathological insults resulting therein in release of ischemia triggered cellular modulators (ITCMs) optimally that cause improvement of physiological functions of malfunctioning target organs comprising the steps of: a) Providing a pair of auto-inflatable pneumatic cuffs, attaching a first cuff to the first limb and a second cuff to the second limb, wherein one of the cuffs inflates significantly beyond systolic blood pressure to completely occlude the blood flow in ischemic phase, and deflate one of the contralateral paired cuffs to allow free flow of blood in the contralateral limb in reperfusion phase, wherein inflation and deflation in the paired cuffs is done in cycles that alternate with similar but opposite ischemia-reperfusion cycles of the paired cuff attached to the patient's remote organs resulting in systemic release of optimal levels of therapeutic ITCMs; b) Providing an air pumping module with a single or paired air pump, an inflate and a deflate valve for each of the paired cuffs, which pump air to each cuff through a tube and holds air in the ischemic phase at a cuff pressure significantly beyond the systolic blood pressure for occluding the blood flow to the patient's first remote organ for a predefined time, and releases the air in the reperfusion phase allowing the blood to flow freely, thereby when the first organ is in ischemic phase the second organ is in reperfusion phase, resulting in accomplishing twice the ischemic body area for the release of the therapeutic ITCMs in half the time required by a single cuff ischemic preconditioning procedure and thus providing a more potent therapeutic effect without causing significant patient discomfort; c) Providing a pressure transducer module for measuring the minimal blood flow occlusion pressure to set up the maximal occlusion pressure in the ischemic phase for each of the paired cuffs, wherein the transducer is selected from the group consisting of: an oscillometric transducer, a photoplethysmographic transducer, an ultrasonic transducer, a thermal transducer, or an infrared transducer; d) Providing a controller console housing which has mechanical and electronic components that automatically operate both the paired, the air pumping module, the transducers, a user interface and a microprocessor that is programmable to automatically inflate and deflate the pneumatic cuffs alternatively to predefined cuff pressure levels, in predefined repetitive cycles, and in predefined order of each of the two remote organs, wherein the controller console displays the ORIP treatment protocol and the status in a real time graphic user interface for user interaction with the microprocessor and other electronic components that are stored in the microprocessor selected from the group consisting of: selection and initiation of a particular ORIP session in compliance with clinician's prescription, calling for a readout of some previously stored data, or setting into the microprocessor patient related data, times and dates relating to specific ORIP sessions and regimen, and also providing user with means to switch the device on or off; and e) Providing a wired or wireless communication module to receive and send feeds from and to a clinician regarding the compliance to a clinician-prescribed ORIP treatment regimen, to alter the ORIP treatment regimen, or to prescribe a new ORIP treatment regimen, wherein the wireless communication is selected from the group consisting of WIFI, GPRS, TCP/IP or peer to peer RF transmission through an RF-enabled handheld communication device in the vicinity of the ORIP console.