Patent ID: 7722544

Claim:
A method for performing an in-vivo calibration of a blood pressure sensor that is associated with a balloon of an in-vivo balloon system, the sensor and balloon being associated such that the sensor is in vivo when the balloon is in-vivo, the method comprising the steps of: controlling the inflation state of the balloon so that a gas pressure in the balloon system is indicative of a patient's blood pressure, the controlling including slowing a normal inflation and/or deflation process associated with cardiac assist such that assist is not suspended and there is no need to remove gas from the system and no need to restore removed gas; monitoring the patient's blood pressure by observing the gas pressure while simultaneously monitoring the patient's blood pressure through the sensor; using blood pressure readings obtained by monitoring the gas pressure as reference blood pressure measurements and generating correction data based on the relationship between blood pressure measurements obtained through the sensor and the reference blood pressure measurements; storing the correction data in a memory; and modifying further blood pressure measurements obtained through the sensor according to the stored correction data in combination with additional correction data so as to generate calibrated blood pressure measurements.