DEVICES AND SYSTEMS FOR FLUID DELIVERY

A system for enabling delivery of fluid in an injection procedure to be performed on a patient in connection with a diagnostic imaging procedure comprises: (a) a controller operably associated with at least one pressurizing mechanism though which at least one of a first fluid and a second fluid contained within at least one fluid container is injectable into the patient, the first fluid comprising a contrast enhancing fluid adapted to enhance contrast of images obtained during the diagnostic imaging procedure and the second fluid being a non-contrast enhancing fluid; (b) the controller including a programming system for programming of an injection protocol comprising a plurality of phases to effect enhancement of at least one region of interest of the patient over a scan duration of the diagnostic imaging procedure, the plurality of phases comprising a first phase in which the contrast enhancing fluid is to be injected and a second phase in which an admixture of the contrast enhancing fluid and the non-contrast enhancing fluid is to be injected; (c) a parameter generator inclusive of an algorithm associated with the programming system, the parameter generator for determining parameters of the injection protocol based in part upon a type of the injection procedure to be performed and the algorithm according to which at least a volume of the first phase, Vol 1 , and a volume of the second phase, Vol 2 , are determined using: Vol 1 = duration scan x Q 1 and Vol 2 = t scan_end - propagation delay - duration 1 x Q 2 where duration scan is the scan duration, Q 1 is the flow rate of the first phase; duration 1 is a duration of the first phase, propagation delay is a delay in propagation of the contrast enhancing fluid from an injection site to the at least one region of interest, Q 2 is the flow rate of the second phase, and t scan-end is computed using: t scan_end = t test - bolus - peak + duration scan where t test-bolus-peak is a time to peak enhancement that can be obtained from an injection of a test bolus of the contrast enhanced fluid into the patient; and (d) the parameter generator is further characterized in that the algorithm enables computation of a ratio of the admixture on the basis of at least a peak enhancement that occurs in the at least one region of interest as a result of the injection of the test bolus.