apparatus for monitoring a target patient for determination of pulmonary fluid accumulation at the base of at least one lung and method for capturing pulmonary fluid from a target patient at the base of the lungs

摘要

It is a monitoring device for the determination of the accumulation of pulmonary fluids comprising a feeding tube with first electrode (s) positioned on it for electrical contact with the tissue of a patient's esophagus. including an inferior esophageal sphincter (eei) and / or tissue in proximity to the eei, second electrode (s) sized and shaped to contact the skin of the target patient, and a non-transient memory having stored therein code instructions for applying alternating current (s) to the first and second electrode pair (s), measuring a voltage across the pair (s), and computing an estimate of a change in lung fluids relative to a baseline in the target patient's lungs according to the applied alternating current and the measured voltage, where the application, measurement and computation of the estimate of change in lung fluids is iteratively performed to monitor the target patient for determination of pulmonary fluid accumulation while the feeding tube is in use.