Patent ID: 8052671

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring hydraulic pressure in the bladder of a medical patient to infer intra-abdominal pressure in that patient, the apparatus comprising: a catheter adapted for draining urine from the bladder; a container of infusion fluid; a first fluid path providing fluid communication between said container and a drain portion of said catheter; a pump disposed to urge fluid flow, under dynamic fluid flow conditions that inherently generate friction loss and consequently require elevated pressure, compared to true bladder pressure, to be induced by the pump to overcome the friction loss, through said first fluid path; a pressure transducer disposed in fluid communication with the bladder and sufficiently hydraulically isolated from the pressure induced by said pump effective to generate a signal responsive substantially to true gage pressure of fluid in the bladder during operation of said pump to urge said fluid flow; and a urine valve, arranged in-circuit effective at a first configuration to resist a draining discharge from said catheter while a bolus of said infusion fluid is infused into the bladder, and effective at a second configuration to permit a draining discharge from said catheter.