Defibrillation system and method designed for rapid attachment

• US 20030199929A1
• Filed: 04/17/2002
• Published: 10/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Snyder, David, Bardy, Gust, Morgan, Carl, Bishay, Jon, Lyster, Tom
• Granted Patent: US 7,027,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/7
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/046 Specially adapted for shock therapy, e.g. defibrillation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3925 Monitoring; Protecting
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3943 for threshold determination

Abstract

A defibrillator having a pair of electrodes for delivering an impedance-compensated defibrillation shock and a method thereof is provided. The defibrillator can be deployed rapidly and effectively with no or minimal clothing and hair removal. To achieve this, one electrode is coupled to a neck region of the patient, whereas the other electrode is coupled to the patient'"'"'s body. Both attachment areas are easily accessible to the rescuer, thus allowing a minimally trained user to easily deploy the defibrillator to treat the patient. A wide range of energy levels that are safe for the patient can be generated selectively based on the patient impedance. The presence of voids in the electrodes decrease the effective shock impedance of the electrodes, thus allowing the defibrillator to operate at a lower level of energy when delivering the electrical pulse to the victim'"'"'s heart.

Claims

1. An apparatus for delivering a defibrillation shock to a patient, comprising:

a pair of electrodes adapted to make electrical contact with said patient, wherein one electrode is disposed on a neck region of said patient and the other electrode is disposed on said patient'"'"'s body;

a switch coupled to said pair of electrodes;

an energy storage for providing a plurality of energy level outputs across said electrodes to said patient; and

,

a controller coupled to said switch and said energy storage for determining a need to apply said defibrillation shock to said patient and for determining a desired energy level output based on a patient impedance.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said energy storage further comprises a plurality of capacitors and a plurality of resistors that are arranged in series, parallel or a combination of series and parallel arrangement.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a voltage charger coupled to said energy storage for charging a plurality of capacitors therein.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a power source for supplying electrical power to said voltage charger.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an ECG front end coupled to said pair of electrodes to determine said patient impedance.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an LCD display.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a timer associated with said controller.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said defibrillation shock comprises an impedance-compensated defibrillation shock by setting said switch according to one of said energy level outputs responsive to said desired energy level output.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said defibrillation shock comprises one of monophasic, biphasic, and multiphasic.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said electrode comprises a defibrillation electrode.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said controller is coupled to said switch to control the duration and polarity of said defibrillation shock.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said desired energy level is selected manually by a user.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the maximum energy level of said defibrillation shock is not harmful to said patient.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said pair of electrodes comprising:

a conductive adhesive layer; and

,

a conductive layer having an opening coupled to said conductive adhesive layer.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a release layer disposed between said pair of electrodes in electrical contact for testing whether said pair of electrodes is operative.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said release layer comprises one of a moisture permeable membrane and a moisture absorbent membrane.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said pair of electrodes includes a date by which said pair of electrodes should be coupled to said patient.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one side of said electrode includes an image of human anatomy showing the actual placement of said electrode on said patient.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said pair of electrodes is placed on said patient to deliver said defibrillation shock without removing any clothing from said patient.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said energy storage is configured to deliver sequentially said defibrillation shock at said desired energy level output to said patient.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said pair of electrodes is placed on said patient to deliver said defibrillation shock without removing body hair from said patient.

22. A system for sequentially delivering an impedance-compensated defibrillation shock to a patient, comprising:

a first electrode and a second electrode for coupling to said patient to deliver said defibrillation shock;

a detector for receiving an ECG signal from said patient;

a plurality of switches coupled to said first and second electrodes for selectively directing electrical energy to said patient in one of two polarities;

a controller for determining a patient impedance based on said ECG signal received from said detector and for selecting a desired energy level based on said patient impedance; and

an energy storage capable of discharging a plurality of energy level outputs, said energy storage is configured to deliver said desired energy level by setting said plurality of switches according to one of said energy level outputs.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said first electrode is disposed on a neck region of said patient and said second electrode is disposed on said patient'"'"'s body.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein a hole is defined in said first and second electrodes.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein said energy storage further comprises a plurality of capacitors and a plurality of resistors that are arranged in series, parallel, or a combination of series and parallel arrangement.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein said first and second electrodes is placed on said patient to deliver said defibrillation shock without removing any clothing from said patient.

27. The system of claim 22, further comprising a voltage charger coupled to said energy storage for charging a plurality of capacitors therein.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising a battery for supplying electrical power to said voltage charger.

29. The system of claim 22, wherein said impedance-compensated defibrillation shock comprises one of monophasic, biphasic, and multiphasic.

30. The system of claim 22, wherein said electrode comprises a defibrillation electrode.

31. The system of claim 22, wherein said controller is coupled to said switches to control the duration and polarity of said impedance-compensated defibrillation shock.

32. The system of claim 22, wherein the maximum voltage level of said impedance-compensated defibrillation shock is less than a predetermined threshold value.

33. The system of claim 22, further comprising a release layer disposed between said first and second electrodes in electrical contact for testing whether said first and second electrodes are operative.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein said release layer comprises one of a moisture permeable membrane and a moisture absorbent membrane.

35. The system of claim 22, wherein said first and second electrodes include a date by which said pair of electrodes should be coupled to said patient.

36. The system of claim 22, wherein one side of said first and second electrodes includes an image of human anatomy showing the actual placement of one of said first and second electrodes on said patient.

37. The system of claim 22, wherein said energy storage is configured to deliver sequentially said defibrillation shock at said desired energy level output to said patient.

38. The system of claim 22, further comprising a timer associated with said controller.

39. The system of claim 22, further comprising an LCD display.

40. The system of claim 22, wherein said first and second electrodes are placed on said patient to deliver said defibrillation shock without removing any body hair from said patient.

41. A method for externally delivering an impedance-compensated defibrillation shock to the heart of a patient, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) charging a defibrillator having a pair of electrodes to a predefined level prior to detecting a need to apply said defibrillation shock to said patient;

(b) coupling said first electrode on a neck region of said patient and said second electrode on said patient'"'"'s body;

(c) detecting a patient impedance if there is a need to apply said defibrillation shock;

(d) adjusting the energy level of said defibrillator according to predetermined criteria based on said detected patient impedance; and

,

(e) discharging the energy source across said pairs of electrodes to deliver said defibrillation shock to said patient.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the duration of said impedance-compensated defibrillation shock is controlled based on said patient impedance.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein said impedance-compensated defibrillation shock comprises one of monophasic, biphasic, and multiphasic.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein said discharging step is performed without removing body hair from said patient.

45. The method of claim 41, further comprising the step of monitoring the heart rate of said patient to determine the need to supply a subsequent defibrillation shock during said discharging step.

46. The method of claim 41, wherein the coupling of said first electrode and said second electrode on said patient'"'"'s body is performed without removing any clothing from said patient.

47. The method of claim 41, wherein the coupling of said first electrode and said second electrode on said patient'"'"'s body is performed without removing any body hair from said patient.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein, if the subsequent defibrillation shock is needed, repeating said steps (d) and (e).

49. The method of claim 41, further comprising the step of performing a cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on said patient.

50. A method for externally delivering an impedance-compensated defibrillation shock to the heart of a patient, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a pair of electrodes adapted to make electrical contact to said patient, said pair of electrodes adapted to determine a need to apply said defibrillation shock to said patient;

providing a switch coupled to said electrodes;

providing an energy storage coupled to said switch capable of supplying a plurality of energy level outputs across said pair of electrodes;

providing a controller to select one of said energy level outputs to deliver said impedance-compensated defibrillation shock through said switch to said patient based on said patient impedance; and

,

discharging said impedance-compensated defibrillation shock across said pair of electrodes to said patient.

51. The method of claim 50, further comprising the step of monitoring the heart rate of said patient during said discharging step to determine if a subsequent defibrillation shock is necessary.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein if the subsequent defibrillation shock is needed, repeating said discharging step according to one of said voltage level outputs responsive to said patient impedance.

53. The method of claim 50, wherein the duration of said impedance-compensated defibrillation shock is controlled based on said patient impedance.

54. The method of claim 50, wherein said impedance-compensated defibrillation shock comprises one of monophasic, biphasic, and multiphasic.

55. The method of claim 50, wherein said discharging step is performed without removing body hair from said patient.

56. The method of claim 50, wherein the coupling of said pairs of electrodes on said patient'"'"'s body is performed without removing any clothing from said patient.

57. The method of claim 50, wherein the step of providing said energy storage further comprises the step of providing a plurality of said capacitors and a plurality of resistors that are arranged in series, parallel, or a combination of series and parallel arrangement.

58. The method of claim 50, further providing an opening in said pair of electrodes.