Patent attributes
An introducer includes a sheath for introducing a catheter into a blood vessel at an insertion site and a plurality of electrodes on the sheath. The introducer also includes an impedance assessment unit connected to the electrodes. The impedance assessment unit includes a power source and a wireless transceiver and is configured to inject one of a predetermined current or voltage across a first pair of electrodes and to measure the other of the current or voltage across a second pair of electrodes. The impedance assessment unit also is configured to perform at least one: wirelessly transmit current and voltage values to an external apparatus for detection of a bleed, and compute an impedance based on the current and voltage and wirelessly transmit the computed impedance to the external apparatus for detection of the bleed.