Abstract: A body supporting tool for a bed includes a guide rail (3) releasably fixed to a frame (1) of the bed, a slide housing (6) guided by the guide rail (3), a turning support (11), and an abutment plate (19) moving forward and backward along the guide rail (3) together with the slide housing (6) and supporting a body of a person lying on the bed while abutting the body. When an operating handle (14) is turned in a set direction by a set angle, the slide housing (6) switches its states from a moving state to a fixing state, and when the handle (14) is turned in a direction opposite to the set direction by the set angle, the slide housing (6) switches its states from the fixing state to the moving state. As a result of this construction, a simply operable body supporting tool is provided, which can releasably be mounted on a bed easily and whose position can be adjusted conveniently, quickly, and reliably after mounted on the bed.

Abstract: This invention provides a method for measuring intracranial pressure and a device for the same which enable intracranial pressure to be accurately measured without any conventional calibration using data obtained by previous measurement because they are characterized in that intracranial pressure is measured after a communication valve capable of communicating with the atmosphere is closed following zero point correction of a pressure transducer performed by adjusting the internal pressure of a flexible membrane provided at the tip of a pressing part and filled with a fluid to atmospheric pressure by the operation of the above communication valve.

Abstract: A mat assembly is constructed so as to be tilted about a longitudinal axis by means of a pair of inflatable air bags. The mat assembly has an upper air cushion sheet mounted upon a frame, a lower air cushion sheet provided upon the underside of the frame, and a pair of air bags disposed upon the underside of the lower air cushion sheet at right and left thereof as viewed in the longitudinal direction. By supplying air to a bag upon one side and by discharging air from the bag upon the other side, the mat assembly is tilted.

Abstract: A brain ventricle shunt system having a first catheter to be inserted into brain ventricle, a second catheter to be inserted into another part of a human body, and a shunt main body connected at one end thereof to the first catheter and at the other end to the second catheter. A check valve is provided for preventing cerebrospinal fluid from flowing back from the second catheter to the first catheter. The shunt main body has a reservoir formed therein and communicated with the first catheter to store the cerebrospinal fluid therein. A dome-shaped flexible portion is formed on the shunt main body and defining the reservoir. The dome-shaped flexible portion is provided to be upwardly projected from the shunt main body by pressure of brain ventricle and provided to be pressed through a scalp by a rod of an external pressure sensor to compress the reservoir.

Abstract: A system for measuring the volume of a part of a human body such as an arm, for diagnostic purposes, is disclosed measuring instrument comprises an outer tube and an inner tube made of flexible material. Both ends of the inner tube are secured to an inside wall of the outer tube so as to form a watertight chamber between the outer tube and the inner tube. Electrodes are provided upon the inside wall of the outer tube, and the watertight chamber is filled with electrolyte. Electric current is passed from one of a pair of electrodes to another electrode through the electrolyte. Voltage across another pair of electrodes is measured so as to measure changes in impedance, thereby detecting changes in the volume of the body part.

Abstract: A brain ventricle shunt system provided with a flow-rate switching mechanism is used as a brain ventricle-peritoneum shunt or a brain ventricle-auricle shunt. It is surgically implanted in the body of a hydrocephalic patient or the like. It is constructed of a check valve for preventing the cerebro-spinal fluid from flowing back to the brain ventricle and a flow-rate switching mechanism for switching the flow rate of cerebro-spinal fluid to be fed from the brain ventricle catheter to the peritoneum or auricle catheter. The switching mechanism is provided with flow passages connected to one another in parallel, flow-rate regulators interposed respectively in the flow passages to control the flow rates through the respective flow passages to predetermined flow rates, and on-off valves interposed respectively in the flow passages so as to shut off the flow passages individually upon the application of external drive forces thereto.