METHODS AND DEVICES FOR DETECTION OF CONTEXT WHEN ADDRESSING A MEDICAL CONDITION OF A PATIENT

• US 20110275961A1
• Filed: 07/22/2011
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: John Hatlestsad
• Original Assignee: John Hatlestsad
• Inventors: Hatlestsad, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,676,336 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/595
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/686 Permanently implanted devices, e.g. pacemakers, other stimulators, biochips A61B5/6861 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3987 characterised by the timing or triggering of the shock

Abstract

Methods and devices detect context related to a patient when monitoring a physiological condition of the patient and/or when applying one or more modes of therapy. The context may be a patient context such as posture or an environmental context such as ambient conditions. The context may be used in various ways in relation to the physiological measurement, such as to control when the physiological measurements are made, to appropriately flag physiological measurements, to be recorded in association with the physiological measurements, and/or to correct the physiological measurements based on a reference context. A device such as a beacon transmitter is used in detecting the context and a measurement device such as an implantable cardiovascular device is used to capture the physiological measurements.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring physiological conditions based on a detection of at least one posture associated with a patient, comprising:

utilizing a first device to detect whether the at least one posture associated with the patient exists; and

when the existence of the at least one posture is detected, automatically measuring at least one physiological condition of the patient using a measurement device coupled to the patient, wherein the measurement device is implanted in a body of the patient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting whether the at least one posture exists comprises interacting between the first device and the measurement device to detect the at least one posture.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first device is external to the patient and the interacting between the first device and the measurement device to detect the at least one posture comprises detecting a proximity of the first device to the measurement device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein detecting a proximity of the first device to the measurement device comprises:

emitting a signal from the first device;

receiving the signal at the measurement device coupled to the patient when the measurement device is within a transmission range of the first device; and

receiving the signal at the measurement device coupled to the patient when the measurement device is outside of the transmission range of the first device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is an implantable tilt switch.

6. A method of automatically modifying therapy parameters to be applied to a patient in response to a posture of the patient, the method comprising:

utilizing a first device implanted within the patient to sense the posture of the patient; and

when an existence of a predefined patient posture is detected, modifying therapy parameters to be applied to the patient from a first set of therapy parameters to a second set of therapy parameters associated with the predefined posture.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first set of therapy parameters is associated with a first mode of operation, and the second set of therapy parameters is associated with a second mode of therapy.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

automatically measuring at least one physiological condition of the patient using a measurement device implanted in a body of the patient and in communication with the first device, wherein the patient posture and the at least one physiological condition of the patient are processed and in response to the at least one physiological condition of the patient and the detection of the existence of a predefined patient posture the mode of therapy to be applied to the patient is modified.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein utilizing a first device implanted within the patient to sense the posture of the patient comprises interacting between the first device and the measurement device to detect the posture;

the first device is external to the patient and the interacting between the first device and the measurement device to detect the posture comprises detecting a proximity of the first device to the measurement device; and

detecting a proximity of the first device to the measurement device comprises;

emitting a signal from the first device;

receiving the signal at the measurement device coupled to the patient when the measurement device is within a transmission range of the first device; and

receiving the signal at the measurement device coupled to the patient when the measurement device is outside of the transmission range of the first device.

10. A device for monitoring physiological conditions of a patient based on a detection of at least one posture associated with the patient, comprising:

a detector that is responsive to at least one posture associated with the patient;

a physiological sensor that is responsive to a physiological condition of the patient;

a processing device configured to automatically measure from the physiological sensor at least one physiological condition of the patient when the existence of the at least posture is detected.

11. The device of claim 10 further comprising a transmitter that outputs a signal encoded with the measurements made by the processing device from the physiological sensor.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the a processing device is configured to flag the measurements taken during an existence of the at least one posture that is indicated by the detector.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the physiological sensor comprises a pulse rate sensor.

14. The device of claim 10, processing device is configured to record measurements of the physiological condition only when the measurements of the at least one posture indicate an existence of a predefined patient posture.

15. The device of claim 10, wherein the processing device is configured to store the measurements of the physiological condition in association with the measurements of the at least one posture.

16. The device of claim 10, wherein the processing device is configured to correct the measurements of the at least one physiological condition by application of a correction factor.

17. The device of claim 10, wherein the detector comprises at least one transmitter external to the patient and a receiver responsive to the transmitter.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the receiver is implantable.

19. The device of claim 10, wherein detector comprises a transmitter external to the patient and a transponder responsive to the transmitter.

20. The device of claim 10, wherein the detector comprises multiple transmitters external to the patient and a receiver responsive to the transmitters, wherein the transmitters transmit data regarding multiple contexts.