CONCURRENT THERAPY DETECTION IN IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICES

• US 20110137360A1
• Filed: 12/07/2010
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cardiac Pacemakers Incorporated (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Cardiac Pacemakers Incorporated (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Inventors: Ruble, Stephen, Hamann, Jason J., Ternes, David J., Baker, Kenneth L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,548,585 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/4
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0028 Body tissue as transmission medium, i.e. transmission systems where the medium is the human body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4848 Monitoring or testing the effects of treatment, e.g. of medication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7207 of noise induced by motion artifacts
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36146 specified by the stimulation parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37 Monitoring; Protecting
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37288 Communication to several implantable medical devices within one patient

Abstract

Various method embodiments detect a concurrent therapy, where the concurrent therapy includes a plurality of therapy pulses. Detecting the concurrent therapy includes detecting at least one electrical pulse, extracting at least one characteristic from the at least one electrical pulse, comparing the at least one characteristic of the detected pulse to at least one characteristic of therapy pulses, and detecting that the concurrent therapy is being applied if the at least one characteristic of the detected pulse favorably compares to the at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses.

Claims

1. A system for detecting a concurrent electrical therapy applied to a patient, comprising:

an implantable medical device (IMD) configured to be implanted in the patient and configured to detect the concurrent electrical therapy, wherein the concurrent electrical therapy includes a plurality of electrical therapy pulses, wherein the IMD includes;

a storage, wherein the storage includes at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses in the concurrent electrical therapy;

concurrent therapy detection circuitry configured to detect electrical pulses and for use to extract at least one characteristic of the detected electrical pulses; and

a controller configured to compare the at least one characteristic of the detected electrical pulses to the at least one stored characteristic of the therapy pulses and to declare that the concurrent therapy is being applied to the patient if the at least one characteristic of the detected electrical pulses favorably compare to the at least one stored characteristic of the therapy pulses.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the concurrent therapy detection circuitry includes a high frequency filter configured to transform the detected electrical pulses into a transformed signal, wherein the transformed signal includes pulses corresponding to rising or falling edges of the detected electrical pulses.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the concurrent therapy detection circuitry is configured to extract a pulse width for the detected electrical pulses.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the concurrent therapy detection circuitry is configured to extract a pulse frequency for the detected electrical pulses.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage includes a database of at least one pulse characteristic for a plurality of potential concurrent electrical therapies that are potentially applied to the patient.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an external database of at least one pulse characteristic for a plurality of potential concurrent electrical therapies that are potentially applied to the patient; and

an external programmer configured to use the external database to program the at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses in the storage of the IMD.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the declared concurrent therapy, store marker information to identify that the concurrent therapy is being applied.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the IMD is configured to deliver an electrical therapy and sense electrical activity to control the electrical therapy, wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the declared concurrent therapy, modify characteristics for sensing electrical activity.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the IMD is configured to gather diagnostic information, wherein the controller is configured to distinguish between diagnostic information gathered when the concurrent therapy is being applied and diagnostic information gathered when the concurrent therapy is not being applied.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the IMD is configured to deliver an electrical therapy, wherein the controller is configured to alter the electrical therapy if it is detected that the concurrent therapy is being applied.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to operate in a learning mode to determine the at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses and to program the storage with the at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses.

12. A method, comprising:

detecting a concurrent therapy, wherein the concurrent therapy includes a plurality of therapy pulses, wherein detecting a concurrent therapy includes;

detecting at least one electrical pulse;

extracting at least one characteristic from the at least one electrical pulse;

comparing the at least one characteristic of the detected pulse to at least one characteristic of therapy pulses; and

detecting that the concurrent therapy is being applied if the at least one characteristic of the detected pulse favorably compares to the at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein detecting the at least one electrical pulse includes detecting a rising edge or a falling edge of the electrical pulse.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein detecting the rising edge or the falling edge of the electrical pulse includes detecting both the rising edge and the falling edge of the electrical pulse.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein detecting the rising edge or a falling edge of the electrical pulse includes applying a high frequency filter to transform a sensed pulse signal into a transformed signal, wherein the transformed signal has spikes corresponding to transitions at the rising and falling edges of the sensed pulse.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein extracting includes extracting a pulse width from the at least one electrical pulse, and comparing the at least one characteristic of the detected pulse to at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses includes comparing the pulse width of the detected pulse to a pulse width of the therapy pulses.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein extracting includes extracting a pulse frequency from the at least one electrical pulse, and comparing the at least one characteristic of the detected pulse to at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses includes comparing the pulse frequency of the detected pulse to a pulse frequency of the therapy pulses.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein

detecting at least one electrical pulse includes detecting a plurality of pulses;

and

comparing at least one characteristic of the detected pulse to at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses includes comparing an on/off ratio for the detected pulses to an on/off ratio for the therapy pulses.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein

extracting at least one characteristic from the at least one electrical pulse includes extracting a waveform for the at least one electrical pulse;

and

comparing at least one characteristic of the detected pulse to at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses includes comparing the waveform for the detected pulses to a waveform for the therapy pulses.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising applying therapy detection criteria to the at least one detected pulse, and detecting that the concurrent therapy is being applied if both the therapy detection criteria is satisfied and the at least one characteristic of the detected pulse favorably compares to the at least one characteristic of the therapy pulses.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing or presenting marker information to identify that the concurrent therapy is being applied.

22. The method of claim 12, further comprising delivering an electrical therapy, wherein delivering the electrical therapy includes sensing electrical activity to control the electrical therapy, the method further comprising modifying characteristics for sensing electrical activity if the concurrent therapy is being applied.

23. The method of claim 12, further comprising gathering diagnostic information, and distinguishing between diagnostic information gathered when the concurrent therapy is being applied and diagnostic information gathered when the concurrent therapy is not being applied.

24. The method of claim 12, further comprising delivering an electrical therapy, the method further comprising altering the electrical therapy if the concurrent therapy is being applied.

25. The method of claim 12, wherein comparing characteristics of the detected pulse to at least one characteristic of therapy pulses includes accessing a database of concurrent therapies, wherein the database includes pulses characteristics for at least two potential concurrent therapies.

26. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

beginning a learning mode to enable an implantable medical device to characterize pulses of a detected electrical signal; and

storing the characterization of the pulses of the detected electrical signal in the IMD,

wherein comparing at least one characteristic of the detected pulse to at least one characteristic of therapy pulses includes comparing the at least one characteristic of the detected pulse to at least one of the characteristics of the therapy pulses characterized in the learning mode.