Patent ID: 7338464

Claim:
A method for infusing a fluid in a living body, said method comprising: providing a reservoir, a flow restrictor, and a valve in an implantable drug pump device; transiently storing fluid infusate in said reservoir for transmission to a delivery site after the implantable drug pump device has been implanted in a patient; limiting a flow rate of the fluid infusate using said flow restrictor disposed in a fluid path between said reservoir and said delivery site; determining transient pressure differentials relative to said flow restrictor by a controller component of the implantable drug pump; determining whether an occlusion is present in the flow path using the transient pressure differentials, the transient pressure differentials being determined when the controller component closes a valve to interrupt flow of the fluid infusate from the implantable drug pump device; determining a location of an occlusion when an occlusion is detected using the transient pressure differentials; controlling said valve disposed in said fluid path between said reservoir and said delivery site to control infusate output from said reservoir to said delivery site as a function of said transient pressure differentials across said flow restrictor, wherein the controlling said valve automatically responds to a detection of a partial occlusion by altering a unit dose period for delivery of the fluid infusate; communicating a signal, from implantable drug pump device to an external device, that is indicative of an amount of occlusion detected by the controller; and communicating a signal, from implantable drug pump device to an external device, that is indicative of a location of the occlusion.