TELEMETRY-SYNCHRONIZED PHYSIOLOGICAL MONITORING AND THERAPY DELIVERY SYSTEMS

• US 20070255330A1
• Filed: 04/27/2006
• Published: 11/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Lee, Brian, Cinbis, Can, Grevious, John, Hill, Gerard, Panken, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 7,912,537 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/32
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3611 Respiration control stimulating respiratory organs A61N1/3601
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36135 using physiological parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36585 controlled by two or more physical parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37288 Communication to several implantable medical devices within one patient
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/903 Radio telemetry

Abstract

A physiological monitoring or therapy delivery system includes autonomous, wirelessly linked, implantable devices located at different areas to sense physiologic signals and deliver therapy. At least one of the implantable devices can trigger synchronized action (e.g. data capture or therapy delivery) by other implantable devices via a telemetry link.

Claims

1. A system of autonomous implantable medical devices, the system comprising:

a first implantable medical device for interacting with a first region of a body of a patient;

a second implantable medical device for interacting with a second region of the body of the patient; and

an inter-device telemetry link for wirelessly linking the first and second implantable medical devices to trigger synchronized action of the first and second implantable medical devices.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first implantable medical device comprises a sensor for sensing a first physiologic parameter, and wherein the second implantable medical device comprises a sensor for sensing a second physiologic parameter.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first implantable medical device, in response to a detected event based on the first physiologic parameter, sends a trigger signal through the telemetry link to the second implantable medical device to cause simultaneous or near simultaneous sensing and data capture of the first and second physiologic parameters by the first and second implantable medical devices.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein each of the first and second implantable medical devices stores a clock value based upon the trigger signal.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the first implantable medical device comprises an ECG monitor, and wherein the second implantable medical device comprises an EEG monitor.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first implantable medical device sends a trigger signal through the telemetry link to the second implantable medical device in response to detection of a cardiac arrhythmia from ECG signals.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the second implantable medical device sends a trigger signal through the telemetry link to the first implantable medical device in response detecting a seizure from EEG signals.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first implantable medical device comprises a sensor for sensing a physiologic parameter, and the second implantable medical devices comprises a therapy delivery device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first implantable medical device detects an event based on the physiologic parameter, and produces a wireless trigger signal based upon the detected event, and wherein the second implantable medical device provides synchronized stimulation in response to the trigger signal.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the stimulation comprises at least one of electrical, thermal, optical, chemical, mechanical, and magnetic stimulation.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the physiologic parameter comprises a characteristic of respiratory effort, and wherein the stimulation comprises an electrical stimulation to treat obstructive sleep apnea.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the physiologic parameter comprises a characteristic of leg position, and the stimulation comprises electrical nerve stimulation to control foot movement.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the first and second implantable medical devices comprise sensors for sensing arterial pressure at different locations along an artery.

14. The system of claim 13 and further comprising:

a third implantable medical device wirelessly linked to the first and second implantable medical devices for storing a measured time difference between sensing of an arterial pressure pulse by the first implantable medical device and sensing of the arterial pressure pulse by the second implantable medical device.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the inter-device telemetry link comprises an externally worn relay unit.

16. The system of claim 1 and further comprising an external device for wirelessly signaling at least one of the first and second implantable medical devices to initiate the synchronized action.

17. A method of obtaining synchronized physiologic data, the method comprising:

sensing physiologic data with a plurality of implantable physiologic measurement devices;

detecting an event at one of the physiologic measurement devices based upon physiologic data sensed by that device; and

wirelessly communicating with another one of the implantable physiologic measurement devices to trigger synchronized physiologic data capture.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the physiologic measurement devices comprise an implantable ECG monitor and an implantable EEG monitor.

19. A method comprising:

sensing a physiologic parameter of a patient at a first location with a first implantable medical device;

wirelessly transmitting a trigger signal from the first implantable medical device;

receiving the trigger signal at a second implantable medical device; and

performing a time synchronized action at the second implantable medical device in response to the trigger signal.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second implantable medical device senses a physiologic parameter at a second location in response to the trigger signal.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the second implantable medical device stores physiologic data together with a clock value representing a time of receipt of the trigger signal.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the second implantable medical device delivers therapy to the patient in response to the trigger signal.

23. The method of claim 19 and further comprising:

transmitting a signal from an external device to the first implantable device to cause the first implantable device to transmit the trigger signal.

24. The method of claim 19 and further comprising:

relaying the trigger signal from the first implantable medical device to the second implantable medical device through an external relay unit.

25. A physiological measurement system comprising:

multiple implantable devices for capturing physiologic data, each implantable device including an internal clock to associate a clock value with physiologic data of the implantable device, at least one of the implantable devices being capable of triggering synchronized data capture in another one of the implantable devices via an inter-device telemetry link, in order to provide simultaneous diagnostic data recordings that can be aligned in time after later retrieval using clock values recorded by the implantable devices.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein at least one of the implantable devices includes:

means for detecting physiologic events; and

means for initiating a wireless trigger signal to at least one other implantable device to initiate synchronized data capture.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein at least one implantable device is configured to transmit physiologic measurements to another one of the implantable devices.

28. The system of claim 25, and further comprising an external medical device capable of providing a telemetry signal to trigger synchronized data capture by the implantable devices.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the implantable devices are capable of transmitting captured data to an external device for data display and review by a physician.

30. The system of claim 25, and further comprising an external device for retrieving data from each implantable device and then aligning the data from the implantable devices via clock values recorded by the implantable devices.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the external device aligns the data by using stored clock counts of both the implanted devices captured at times of data capture, running clock counts of the implanted devices captured at times of retrieval and external device times when retrieval of data occurred.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the inter-device telemetry link comprises an external device for relaying signals among the implantable devices.

33. A medical therapy system comprising:

an implantable therapy delivery device; and

an implantable physiologic measurement device for sensing a physiologic parameter and wirelessly triggering the implantable therapy delivery device to deliver a synchronized therapy to at least one of organs, tissues, and nerves.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the synchronized therapy comprises delivery of at least one of electrical, thermal, light, chemical drug delivery, mechanical, or magnetic stimuli.

35. A system comprising:

a first implantable device for storing first physiologic signal data, the first implantable device including an internal clock, a transmitter, and a data capture trigger for causing the transmitter to transmit a trigger signal; and

a second implantable device for storing second physiologic signal data, the second implantable device including a clock, a receiver for receiving trigger signals, wherein the second implantable device in response to a trigger signal records a clock value and the second physiologic signal data.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the first implantable device includes:

means for detecting a physiologic event based upon the first physiologic signal; and

means for initiating the trigger signal upon detection of the physiologic event.

37. The system of claim 36 and further comprising an external device for retrieving the first and second physiologic signal data stored by the first and second implantable devices.

38. The system of claim 35 and further comprising an external device for relaying trigger signals between the first and second implantable devices.

39. The system of claim 35 and further comprising an external device for transmitting a signal to the first implantable device to cause the first implantable device to generate the data capture trigger.