Patent ID: 7914564

Claim:
A method of controlling the administration of a thermal therapy, comprising acts of: inserting a catheter having a heat transfer element positioned at a distal tip of the catheter into a blood vessel of a patient, the catheter having a supply lumen for supplying a working fluid to the heat transfer element and a return lumen for returning a working fluid from the heat transfer element; circulating a working fluid through the catheter and the heat transfer element, the working fluid having a temperature different from the patient temperature; inserting a temperature sensor into an area in one of the supply lumen or the return lumen; causing the working fluid to stop circulating at a time determined by a predictive algorithm; receiving a signal from the temperature sensor at a time determined by the predictive algorithm while the circulating of the working fluid is stopped and prior to complete equilibration between the working fluid temperature and the patient temperature; determining a control temperature based on the signal; using the control temperature to control the temperature of the working fluid, wherein the temperature sensor is selected from the group consisting of thermistors, thermocouples, and combinations thereof, and further wherein the temperature sensor is two thermistors, receiving a safety monitor signal from one of the two thermistors; and causing the working fluid to stop circulating if a value of control temperature measured by the safety monitor signal falls outside a predetermined range.