Blood Pressure

Blood pressure cuffs with resilient support sleeves

Blood Pressure Abstract
Inflatable blood pressure cuff assemblies include an inflatable elongate cuff member having opposing long edges and opposing short edge portions with a fluid chamber therein and a resilient support sleeve attached to a respective one of the opposing short edge portions of the inflatable elongate cuff member. The sleeve may be configured with a sensor chamber and a cable routing channel. Related systems and methods of fabricating cuff assemblies and resilient support sleeves are also described.

Blood Pressure Claims
That which is claimed is:

1. An inflatable blood pressure cuff assembly comprising:

an inflatable elongate cuff member having opposing long edges and opposing short edge portions with an inflatable fluid chamber therein; and

a resilient sleeve attached to a minor portion of the cuff member proximate a single one of the opposing short edge portions of the inflatable elongate cuff member, wherein the sleeve has a body with at least a major portion of the body sized and configured to elastically expand to snugly and generally conformably fit on a limb of a patient when in position on the patient prior to inflation of the cuff member, and wherein, in position, the sleeve is configured to define a first closed member before the cuff member is wrapped over the sleeve and the cuff member defines a second closed member after the cuff member is wrapped over the sleeve.

2. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve is air permeable and comprises a fabric that includes stretch fibers, and wherein the sleeve is configured to generally radially elastically compress against the limb of the patient under the cuff member when the cuff member is inflated.

3. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve has a closed perimeter configuration defining an aperture extending in the axial direction, wherein the sleeve aperture is sized and configured to stretch to receive a limb of a patient therein during use.

4. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 3, wherein the sleeve aperture has a first configuration with a first width during periods of non-use and a second configuration with an expanded second width when in position on a patient, wherein, in the second configuration, the sleeve is substantially conformable to and resides securely against a desired portion of the limb of the patient with sufficient compressive force so that it is able to maintain its desired longitudinal position to thereby inhibit slippage during use.

5. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 2, wherein the sleeve comprises nylon fibers.

6. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 2, wherein the sleeve comprises spandex fibers.

7. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 4, wherein the sleeve has opposing upper and lower edge portions, and wherein, in position on a patient, the sleeve is configured to have an elastic lateral stretch of at least about 15% at the lower edge portion to provide the second configuration width.

8. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 7, wherein the sleeve is configured to accommodate patients having limbs that vary in width by up to at least about 150%.

9. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 8, wherein the sleeve is sized and configured to accommodate patients having limbs that vary in width between about 100-205%.

10. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve has a frustoconical shape.

11. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the cuff member is bladderless.

12. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the cuff member comprises an inflatable bladder held in a receiving chamber.

13. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 12, wherein the sleeve is formed of a fabric comprising nylon as a major constituent and spandex as a minor constituent.

14. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve comprises a sensor chamber.

15. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 14, wherein the sleeve comprises a sensor held in the sensor chamber.

16. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 14, wherein the sleeve comprises upper and lower edge portions, and wherein the sensor chamber is located proximate the lower edge portion.

17. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein, in position on the patient, the sleeve defines a closed member that, away from the attachment portion, is generally independent of the cuff member with the cuff member overlying the sleeve when wrapped about the patient so that one short end portion of the cuff member releasably attaches to an outside primary surface of the cuff member whereby the sleeve helps hold the cuff member in position on the subject.

18. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve comprises visual arterial alignment indicia.

19. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 16, wherein the sleeve further comprises a cable channel in communication with the sensor chamber.

20. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 19, wherein the sleeve cable channel is curvilinear.

21. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 18, wherein the visual arterial alignment indicia includes an alignment arrow.

22. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the assembly is configured for stress test blood pressure measurements.

23. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve is formed from a unitary sheet of material.

24. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve is formed of an anisotropic material.

25. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve is attached to the cuff member in a releasably detachable manner.

26. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 25, wherein the sleeve is configured as a single-use disposable member.

27. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve is fixedly attached to the cuff member.

28. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve has opposing first and second short end portions, and wherein the first end portion is configured to releaseably attach to the cuff member and/or the second short end portion of the sleeve.

29. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the cuff member and sleeve are configured to accommodate both the left and right arms of patients.

30. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 1, wherein the assembly is configured for ambulatory blood pressure measurements.

31. An inflatable blood pressure cuff assembly comprising:

an inflatable elongate cuff member having a body with opposing long edges and opposing short edge portions with a fluid chamber therein, in operation, the cuff member body being configured to wrap about a limb of a user and define a first closed member; and

a resilient sleeve configured to reside under the wrapped cuff member, wherein the sleeve has a primary body portion that is formed of an air-permeable stretch fabric that is sized and configured to stretch to accommodate the limb of the user whereby the sleeve is adapted to snugly and conformably fit about the limb of the user independent of the cuff member, the resilient sleeve configured to define a second closed member that is adapted to elastically expand about the body portion of the user in a generally form fitting manner before inflation of the cuff member and elastically compress against the body portion when the cuff member is inflated.

32. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 31, wherein the sleeve comprises visual arterial alignment indicia.

33. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 31, wherein the sleeve remains unattached to the cuff member during operation.

34. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 31, wherein the sleeve is releasably attachable to a minor portion of the cuff at one of the short edge portions of the elongate cuff member.

35. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 31, wherein the sleeve is fixedly attached to the elongate cuff member.

36. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 31 wherein the sleeve includes opposing first and second short end portions, and wherein the first end portion is configured to releaseably attach to the cuff member and/or the sleeve second end portion.

37. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 35, wherein, in position, the sleeve is sized and configured to be forced to stretch in a lateral direction by at least about 15% to accommodate the limb of the patient, and wherein the air permeable sleeve body stretch fabric comprises at least one of spandex and nylon.

38. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 31, in combination with a plurality of different blood pressure cuff assemblies, each having a sleeve configured in a predetermined size to accommodate a range of different size patients and wherein the sleeves are configured to have a lateral stretch of at least about 500% to accommodate a range of different size limbs.

39. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 32, wherein the visual arterial alignment indicia includes an alignment arrow.

40. An inflatable blood pressure cuff assembly comprising:

an inflatable elongate cuff member having a body with opposing long edge portions and opposing short edge portions; and

a resilient sleeve attached to a minor portion of the cuff member at an attachment portion that is proximate one of the short edge portions of the inflatable elongate cuff member so that the sleeve extends outward from the cuff member body, the sleeve having a body that is sized and configured to snugly and generally conformably elastically expand to receive a target region of a limb of a patient independent of the cuff member, wherein when positioned on a target patient, wherein, when positioned on the subject, the cuff member wraps one of the opposing short edge end portions over the body of the cuff member to close the cuff member and reside over the sleeve.

41. A blood pressure cuff assembly according to claim 40, wherein the sleeve comprises visual arterial alignment indicia.

42. A blood press