Drug delivery for treatment of cardiac arrhythmia
First Claim
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1. A system for treating cardiac arrhythmia, the system comprising:
- a sensing lead configured to sense electrical signals attendant to the depolarization and repolarization of a heart;
a processor configured to receive the electrical signals, to detect cardiac arrhythmia from the electrical signals, to discriminate between an atrial arrhythmia and a ventricular arrhythmia as a function of the electrical signals, and to generate an arrhythmia signal as a function of the type of arrhythmia discriminated from the electrical signals; and
a drug delivery system configured to receive the arrhythmia signal, the drug delivery system comprising;
a first drug pump containing a first drug;
a second drug pump containing a second drug;
a first infusion apparatus coupled to the first drug pump; and
a second infusion apparatus coupled to the second drug pump, wherein the drug delivery system is configured to activate the first drug pump to dispense the first drug via the first infusion apparatus when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of atrial arrhythmia, and wherein the drug delivery system is configured to activate the second drug pump to dispense the second drug via the second infusion apparatus when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of ventricular arrhythmia.
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Abstract
Techniques for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia involve automatic administration of anti-arrhythmia drugs, infused into the patient'"'"'s body by an implantable drug delivery system. The invention combines sophisticated techniques for discrimination among arrhythmia that originates in the atrium and arrhythmia that originates in the ventricle, and administering a drug treatment appropriate for the discriminated type of arrhythmia. The administration of anti-arrhythmia drugs may work in harmony with an implantable pacemaker.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1. A system for treating cardiac arrhythmia, the system comprising:
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a sensing lead configured to sense electrical signals attendant to the depolarization and repolarization of a heart;
a processor configured to receive the electrical signals, to detect cardiac arrhythmia from the electrical signals, to discriminate between an atrial arrhythmia and a ventricular arrhythmia as a function of the electrical signals, and to generate an arrhythmia signal as a function of the type of arrhythmia discriminated from the electrical signals; and
a drug delivery system configured to receive the arrhythmia signal, the drug delivery system comprising;
a first drug pump containing a first drug;
a second drug pump containing a second drug;
a first infusion apparatus coupled to the first drug pump; and
a second infusion apparatus coupled to the second drug pump, wherein the drug delivery system is configured to activate the first drug pump to dispense the first drug via the first infusion apparatus when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of atrial arrhythmia, and wherein the drug delivery system is configured to activate the second drug pump to dispense the second drug via the second infusion apparatus when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of ventricular arrhythmia. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of treating arrhythmia in a patient,
wherein a drug delivery system has been implanted in the patient, the drug delivery system comprising a first drug pump containing a first drug and a second drug pump containing a second drug, the method comprising: -
receiving an arrhythmia signal indicative of one of atrial arrhythmia or ventricular arrhythmia;
activating the first drug pump to dispense the first drug when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of atrial arrhythmia, and activating the second drug pump to dispense the second drug when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of ventricular arrhythmia. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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17. A system comprising:
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a processor configured to receive the electrical signals from a heart and to generate an arrhythmia signal as a function of the type of electrical signals, the arrhythmia signal indicative of one of atrial arrhythmia or ventricular arrhythmia; and
a drug delivery system configured to receive the arrhythmia signal, the drug delivery system comprising a drug pump and an infusion apparatus coupled to the drug pump, wherein the drug delivery system is configured to activate the drug pump to dispense the drug via the infusion apparatus when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of one of atrial arrhythmia and ventricular arrhythmia.
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23. A method for treatment of arrhythmia in a patient comprising:
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implanting in the patient a sensing lead configured to sense electrical signals attendant to the depolarization and repolarization of the patient'"'"'s heart;
implanting in the patient a processor configured to receive the electrical signals, to detect cardiac arrhythmia from the electrical signals and to discriminate between an atrial arrhythmia and a ventricular arrhythmia as a function of the electrical signals;
implanting in the patient a drug delivery system comprising a first drug pump containing a first drug and a second drug pump containing a second drug;
monitoring the patient'"'"'s heart rhythm using the sensing lead and the processor;
upon detection of arrhythmia, determining the type of the arrhythmia using the processor;
responsive to atrial arrhythmia, activating the first drug pump to dispense the first drug to the patient; and
responsive to ventricular arrhythmia, activating the second drug pump to dispense the second drug to the patient.
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35. A system for treating cardiac arrhythmia comprising:
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a processor configured to detect cardiac arrhythmia, to discriminate between an atrial arrhythmia and a ventricular arrhythmia, and to generate an arrhythmia signal as a function of the type of arrhythmia;
a drug delivery system comprising a first drug pump containing a first drug, a second drug pump containing a second drug, a first infusion apparatus coupled to the first drug pump and a second infusion apparatus coupled to the second drug pump; and
a controller configured to receive the arrhythmia signal, to generate a first control signal to activate the first drug pump to dispense the first drug via the first infusion apparatus when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of atrial arrhythmia, and to generate a second control signal when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of atrial arrhythmia, and to generate a second control signal to activate the second drug pump to dispense the second drug via the second infusion apparatus when the arrhythmia signal is indicative of ventricular arrhythmia.
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40. A system for treating cardiac arrhythmia comprising:
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means for sensing electrical signals attendant to the depolarization and repolarization of a heart;
means for detecting an arrhythmia from the electrical signals;
means for discriminating between an atrial arrhythmia and a ventricular arrhythmia; and
means for drug delivery comprising a first drug pump means and a second drug pump means, wherein the first drug pump means contains a first drug and the second drug pump means contains a second drug, wherein the first drug pump means dispenses the first drug when the arrhythmia is atrial arrhythmia, and wherein the second drug pump means dispenses the second drug when the arrhythmia is ventricular arrhythmia. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43)
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Specification