CARDIAC MONITOR SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HOME AND TELEMEDICINE APPLICATION

• US 20170265838A1
• Filed: 03/17/2016
• Published: 09/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Vascular, Inc. (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Vascular, Inc. (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Schulhauser, Randal, Brown, Richard, Bast, Gerard, Dominiack, Dorothy, Harding, William, Kinzie, Patrick, Cherry, Jeff, Saikia, Sneha
• Granted Patent: US 10,111,643 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/103 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for testing the shape, pattern, colour, size or movement of the body or parts thereof, for diagnostic purposes A61B5/08 takes precedence; measuring aids for tailors A41H1/00; measuring instruments specially adapted for dentistry A61C19/04
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/352 Detecting R peaks, e.g. for synchronising diagnostic apparatus; Estimating R-R interval
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/00 Instruments for auscultation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/04 Electric stethoscopes microphones, acoustic transducers therefor H04R

Abstract

A system for detecting valvular malfunction includes a monitoring device and a processor. The monitoring device includes a heart sound sensor configured to detect heart sounds of the patient, and a signal processor. The processor is configured to receive a signal representative of the detected heart sounds from the signal processor, wherein the processor is configured to compare the signal to a baseline signal stored in memory. The processor may be part of the monitoring device or may be part of an external device, or both.

Claims

1. A system for detecting aortic stenosis comprising:

a monitoring device configured to be coupled to a patient, the monitoring device including a heart sound sensor configured to detect heart sounds of the patient, and a signal processor; and

a processor configured to receive a signal representative of the detected heart sounds from the signal processor, wherein the processor is configured to compare the signal to a baseline signal stored in memory.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an alert coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to activate the alert if the signal representative of the detect heart sounds deviates from the baseline in a predetermined manner.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the alert is an audio alert.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the alert is a display in communication with the processor.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a second sensor configured to sense electrical activity of the patient'"'"'s heart, wherein the processor is configured to receive electrical activity signals from the second sensor.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising an event trigger device transmitting a trigger signal to the monitoring device and the processor, wherein the processor generates a first heart sound sensing time period and a second heart sound sensing time period, and wherein the heart sound sensor is configured to detect a first heart sound within the first heart sound sensing time period and a second heart sound signal within the second heart sound sensing time period, and wherein the processor is configured to store data corresponding to the first heart sound signal and the second heart sound signal in response to the trigger signal.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first heart sound sensing time period is configured to commence in response to the second sensor sensing an R-wave in the electrical activity of the patient'"'"'s heart.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the second heart sound sensing time is configured to commence in response to the second sensor sensing a T-wave in the electrical activity of the patient'"'"'s heart.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device further includes a posture sensor.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the posture sensor includes an accelerometer, wherein the posture sensor is configured to communicate with the processor to ensure that the patient is in a desired position.

11. A method for detecting valvular malfunction in a patient comprising the steps of:

sensing heart sound signals;

comparing the heart sound signals to baseline heart signals; and

alerting the patient if pre-determined metrics of the heart sound signals and the baseline heart signals differ.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising uplinking data corresponding to the heart sound signals to an external device, wherein the comparing step is at the external device.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

generating a heart sound sensing time period and a second heart sound sensing time period;

detecting an R-wave and a T-wave in the patient'"'"'s heart using a second sensor;

wherein the heart sound signals are sensed within the first heart sound sensing time period in response to the detected R-wave;

sensing a second heart sound signal within the second heart sound sensing time period in response to the detected T-wave; and

storing data corresponding to the heart sound signal and the second heart sound signal in response to the detected trigger event.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the data corresponding to the heart sound signal and the second heart sound signal is stored in one of long-term memory and short-term memory.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of sensing a position of the patient such that the position of the patient is the same during the step of sensing heart sound signals and when the baseline heart sound signals were measured.