Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130178751 | IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICE FOR MEASURING PRESSURE VIA AN L-C RESONANT CIRCUIT - An implantable medical device controls the excitation of and processes signals received from passive pressure sensor components of an implantable lead. The passive pressure sensor components include an inductor-capacitor (L-C) resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency that corresponds in some aspects to the pressure external to the implantable lead. The capacitive circuit portion of the resonant circuit may be flexible such that changes in pressure at the capacitive circuit cause changes in the capacitance of the capacitive circuit. Thus, changes in pressure at the pressure sensor are reflected by changes in the resonant frequency of the excited resonant circuit. The L-C resonant circuit is excited by a signal coupled to the L-C resonant circuit by the implantable medical device. In some embodiments, the implantable medical device receives such an excitation signal from an external device. In some embodiments, the implantable medical device generates the excitation signal. | 07-11-2013 |
20140094889 | IMPLANTABLE THERAPY LEAD WITH CONDUCTOR CONFIGURATION ENHANCING ABRASION RESISTANCE - An implantable therapy lead employs electrical conductors configured to enhance the abrasion resistance of the lead. Specifically, conductors are configured to create a surface contact area with walls of a wall lumen of a tubular body that is greater than would otherwise be possible with traditional conductors that have a circular transverse cross-section. As a result, the abrasion pressure of the conductors against the lumen walls is decreased for the conductors disclosed herein as compared to that of traditional conductors. | 04-03-2014 |
20140094890 | IMPLANTABLE THERAPY LEAD WITH CONDUCTOR CONFIGURATION ENHANCING ABRASION RESISTANCE - An implantable therapy lead employs electrical conductors configured to enhance the abrasion resistance of the lead. Specifically, conductors are configured to create a surface contact area with walls of a wall lumen of a tubular body that is greater than would otherwise be possible with traditional conductors that have a circular transverse cross-section. As a result, the abrasion pressure of the conductors against the lumen walls is decreased for the conductors disclosed herein as compared to that of traditional conductors. | 04-03-2014 |
20140100627 | LEADLESS INTRA-CARDIAC MEDICAL DEVICE WITH INTEGRATED L-C RESONANT CIRCUIT PRESSURE SENSOR - A leadless intra-cardiac medical device comprises an integrated L-C resonant circuit pressure sensor. In some embodiments, the pressure sensor comprises a passive sensor that measures pressure in response to an externally generated excitation signal. In some embodiments, the pressure sensor comprises an active sensor that measures pressure in response to an internally generated excitation signal. | 04-10-2014 |
20140107723 | SINGLE-CHAMBER LEADLESS INTRA-CARDIAC MEDICAL DEVICE WITH DUAL-CHAMBER FUNCTIONALITY - A leadless implantable medical device (LIMD) comprises a housing configured to be implanted entirely within a single local ventricular chamber of the heart near a local apex region. A base on the housing is configured to be secured to tissue of interest, while a distal electrode is provided on the base and extends outward such that, when the device is implanted in the local chamber, the distal electrode is configured to engage the distal apex region at a distal activation site within the conduction network of the adjacent ventricular chamber. | 04-17-2014 |
20140172034 | INTRA-CARDIAC IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICE WITH IC DEVICE EXTENSION FOR LV PACING/SENSING - An assembly is provided for introducing a device within a heart of a patient. The assembly is comprised of a sheath having at least one internal passage. An intra-cardiac implantable medical device (IIMD) is retained within the at least one internal passage, wherein the IIMD is configured to be discharged from a distal end of the sheath. The IIMD has a housing with a first active fixation member configured to anchor the IIMD at a first implant location within a local chamber of the heart. | 06-19-2014 |
20140172060 | METHOD OF IMPLANTING A SINGLE-CHAMBER LEADLESS INTRA-CARDIAC MEDICAL DEVICE WITH DUAL-CHAMBER FUNCTIONALITY AND SHAPED STABILIZATION INTRA-CARDIAC EXTENSION - A leadless intra-cardiac medical device (LIMD) is configured to be implanted entirely within a heart of a patient. The LIMD comprises a housing configured to be securely attached to an interior wall portion of a chamber of the heart, and a stabilizing intra-cardiac (IC) device extension connected to the housing. The stabilizing IC device extension may include a stabilizer arm, and/or an appendage arm, or an elongated body or a loop member configured to be passively secured within the heart. | 06-19-2014 |
20140276125 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CHARACTERIZING CARDIAC FUNCTION BASED ON DYNAMIC IMPEDANCE - A method and system are provided for characterizing cardiac function. The method and system comprise collecting cardiac signals associated with electrical or mechanical behavior of a heart over at least one cardiac cycle; identifying a timing feature of interest (FOI) from the cardiac signals; collecting dynamic impedance (DI) data over at least one cardiac cycle (CC), designated by the timing FOI, along at least one of i) a venous return (VR) vector or ii) a right ventricular function (RVF) vector; and analyzing at least one morphologic characteristic from the DI data based on at least one of i) a VR-DI correlation metric to obtain a VR indicator associated with the CC or ii) a RVF-DI correlation metric to obtain a RVF indicator associated with CC. | 09-18-2014 |
20140277259 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A DISTRIBUTED VIRTUAL STIMULATION CATHODE FOR USE WITH AN IMPLANTABLE NEUROSTIMULATION SYSTEM - Techniques are provided for controlling and delivering spinal cord stimulation (SCS) or other forms of neurostimulation. In one example, neurostimulation pulses are generated wherein successive pulses alternate in polarity so that a pair of electrodes alternate as cathodes. Each pulse has a cathodic amplitude sufficient to achieve cathodic capture of tissues adjacent the particular electrode used as the cathode for the pulse. The neurostimulation pulses are delivered to patient tissues using the electrodes to alternatingly capture tissues adjacent opposing electrodes via cathodic capture to achieve a distributed virtual stimulation cathode. Various pulse energy savings techniques are also set forth that exploit the distributed virtual stimulation cathode. | 09-18-2014 |
20140277278 | CLOSED-LOOP SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING NEUROSTIMULATION BASED ON FAR-FIELD CARDIAC SIGNALS SENSED BY A SPINAL CORD STIMULATION DEVICE - Techniques are provided for controlling spinal cord stimulation (SCS) or other forms of neurostimulation. Far-field cardiac electrical signals are sensed using a lead of the SCS device and neurostimulation is selectively delivering using a set of adjustable SCS control parameters. Parameters representative of cardiac rhythm are derived from the far-field cardiac electrical signals. The parameters representative of cardiac rhythm are correlated with SCS control parameters to thereby map neurostimulation control settings to cardiac rhythm parameters. The delivery of further neurostimulation is then controlled based on the mapping of neurostimulation control settings to cardiac rhythm parameters to, for example, address any cardiovascular disorders detected based on the far-field cardiac signals. In this manner, a closed loop control system is provided to automatically adjust SCS control parameters to respond to changes in cardiac rhythm such as changes associated with ischemia, arrhythmia or heart failure. | 09-18-2014 |
20150025397 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ESTIMATING CARDIAC PRESSURE BASED ON CARDIAC ELECTRICAL CONDUCTION DELAYS USING AN IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICE - Techniques are provided for estimating left atrial pressure (LAP) or other cardiac performance parameters based on measured conduction delays. In particular, LAP is estimated based interventricular conduction delays. Predetermined conversion factors stored within the device are used to convert the various the conduction delays into LAP values or other appropriate cardiac performance parameters. The conversion factors may be, for example, slope and baseline values derived during an initial calibration procedure performed by an external system, such as an external programmer. In some examples, the slope and baseline values may be periodically re-calibrated by the implantable device itself. Techniques are also described for adaptively adjusting pacing parameters based on estimated LAP or other cardiac performance parameters. Still further, techniques are described for estimating conduction delays based on impedance or admittance values and for tracking heart failure therefrom. | 01-22-2015 |
20150051661 | Method and System for Validating Local Capture in Multisite Pacing Delivery - A method for use with an implantable system including a lead having multiple electrodes implantable proximate to a patient's left ventricular (LV) chamber includes simultaneously delivering pacing pulses over corresponding pacing vectors defined by electrodes proximate to the LV chamber. The method includes recording evoked responses responsive to the pacing pulses that are measured over separate corresponding sensing channels. The method also includes comparing the evoked responses to a template that represents local capture of a local LV tissue region along one or more of the corresponding pacing vectors. The comparison is used to determine whether the pacing pulses achieved local capture along the corresponding pacing vectors. At least one of the pacing pulses or pacing vectors are updated based on the comparison of the evoked responses to the template in order to determine a local capture threshold for the corresponding pacing vectors. | 02-19-2015 |
20150057716 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ANALYZING VALVE RELATED TIMING AND MONITORING HEART FAILURE - A method and system are provided to analyze valve related timing and monitor heart failure. The method and system comprise collecting cardiac signals associated with an atrial chamber of interest; collecting dynamic impedance (DI) data along an atria-function focused (AFF) vector to form a DI data set, the DI data set including information corresponding to a mechanical function (MF) of a valve associated with the atrial chamber of interest; identifying, from the cardiac signals, an intra-atrial conduction timing (IACT) associated with the atrial chamber of interest; estimating an MF landmark at which the mechanical function of the valve occurs based on the DI data set; analyzing a timing delay between the MF landmark and the IACT; and adjusting a therapy, based on the timing delay, to encourage atrial contribution to ventricular filling. | 02-26-2015 |
20150073287 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CHARACTERIZING CHAMBER SPECIFIC FUNCTION - A method and system are provided for characterizing chamber specific function. The method and system comprise collecting cardiac signals associated with asynchronous timing between first and second chambers of the heart; collecting dynamic impedance (DI) data along a chamber-specific function (CSF) vector to form a DI data set, the DI data set collected during a collection window that is temporally aligned based on a timing feature of interest (FOI); repeating the collection operations over multiple cardiac cycles (CC) to obtain an ensemble of DI data sets; and combining the ensemble of DI data sets to form a composite DI data set that is coupled to a chamber functional mechanic of interest (FMOI) associated with the first chamber and decoupled from functional mechanics associated with the second chamber; and analyzing the composite DI data set to obtain a CSF indicator associated with the chamber FMOI of the first chamber. | 03-12-2015 |