System for providing electrical pulses to nerve and/or muscle using an implanted stimulator
First Claim
1. An implantable stimulator for providing electrical pulses to nerve or muscle tissue(s), comprises a programmable implantable pulse generator means and a stimulus-receiver means, wherein said stimulus-receiver means is adapted to function in conjunction with an external stimulator, whereby said electrical pulses to nerve or muscle tissues are provided either using said implanted pulse generator means or said external stimulator.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Implantable stimulation systems and method for nerve and/or muscle stimulation applications comprises two functional modules which are, i) a programmable pulse generator module, and ii) a stimulus-receiver module. The stimulus-receiver module is designed to provide stimulation/blocking pulses with an external stimulator. An external device acts as a programmer and as an external stimulator. The system uses implantable power source until stable external power is available. A power select circuitry switches between implanted power source and external power source, when its available. Stimulation/blocking to nerve or muscle tissue may be provided using implantable pulse generator, or via an external stimulator which is inductively coupled to the stimulus-receiver portion of the implanted system. Numerous applications of the system include, spinal cord stimulation to provide therapy for intractable pain and refractory angina; occipital nerve stimulation to provide therapy for occipital neuralgia and transformed migraine; afferent vagus nerve modulation to provide therapy for a host of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders such as epilepsy, depression, Parkinson'"'"'s disease, bulemia, anxiety/obsessive compulsive disorders, Alzheimer'"'"'s disease, autism, and neurogenic pain; efferent vagus nerve stimulation for rate control in atrial fibrillation, and to provide therapy for congestive heart failure; gastric nerves or gastric wall stimulation to provide therapy for obesity; sacral nerve stimulation to provide therapy for urinary urge incontinence; deep brain stimulation to provide therapy for Parkinson'"'"'s disease, and other neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders; cavernous nerve stimulation to provide therapy for erectile dysfunction.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An implantable stimulator for providing electrical pulses to nerve or muscle tissue(s), comprises a programmable implantable pulse generator means and a stimulus-receiver means, wherein said stimulus-receiver means is adapted to function in conjunction with an external stimulator, whereby said electrical pulses to nerve or muscle tissues are provided either using said implanted pulse generator means or said external stimulator.
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2. An implantable stimulator for providing electrical pulses to nerve or muscle tissue(s) for treating medical disorders, comprising:
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an implantable pulse generation means comprising a microcontroller, memory, circuitry, and a battery power source;
an implantable stimulus-receiver means comprising circuitry and a secondary coil, and capable of receiving electrical pulses from an external stimulator and providing said pulses to said nerve or muscle tissue(s); and
circuitry means for switching between said implanted pulse generator means and said implanted stimulus-receiver means. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for providing electrical pulses to a body tissue(s) at one or more sites, comprising:
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an implantable stimulator, wherein said implantable stimulator comprises a pulse generation means, a stimulus-receiver means, and a switching circuit means for operating selectively;
an external programmer means;
an external stimulator means adapted to work with said implanted stimulus receiver means;
at least one lead in electrical contact with said implantable stimulator; and
at least one electrode at a distal end of said at least one lead and adapted to be in electrical contact with said body tissue(s). - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification