Portable body fluid heating device leads to patent for Bellaire doctor, Texas team

Charles Cox

A doctor who lives in the Bellaire area is part of a University of Texas team that just received a U.S. patent for its invention of a device that could save patients in forward combat zones, frigid environments and other extraordinary situations.

The invention described in the patent is a portable machine that can heat biocompatible fluids such as blood before they are used in treatment. One might think that such a device would be powered by electricity, but the batteries would be too large -- the inventors say they would have to be about the size of a laptop computer. Instead, the invention employs heat from a combustible fuel such as butane.

The team credited with the invention is Brijesh Gill of Houston, Charles Cox of Bellaire, Ofodike A. Ezekoye of Austin and Ozgur Ekici, a University of Texas Ph.D. who has since moved to Izmir, Turkey. All of the inventors are in some way associated with the university system; Cox is an adjoint professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The patent's official number is 7,891,974. It was originally filed on Aug. 1, 2007, and approved on Feb. 22 of this year. The filers were represented in the process by Houston-based intellectual property firm Conley Rose, whose offices are located at 600 Travis St. The patent's owner is listed as the University of Texas Board of Regents.