Method and a heart pacemaker for terminating a tachycardia
First Claim
1. A heart pacemaker for supplying sequences of stimulation pulses for effecting termination of a sensed tachycardia, said pacemaker comprising at least a signal detector, a controllable stimulation pulse generator for generating stimulation pulses with a controllable time interval, and a tachycardia detector, and further comprising a memory with a plurality of register means constructed for storing respective register values controlling generation of respective sequences of n stimulation pulses, said register means during pacemaker operation serving to store register values corresponding to respective sequences that are effective for the termination of a tachycardia and thereafter to supply the stored, register values during a subsequent tachycardia to control the generator to again supply the corresponding sequence, and control logic means coupled with said tachycardia detector for activation in response to a tachycardia and controlling selection of the respective register means to selectively effect the supply of the respective stored register values for the corresponding control of said generator.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A routine is provided in order to be able to terminate a detected tachycardia quickly and reliably, the routine generating a sequence of n stimulation pulses, checking the heart reaction and, under given conditions, changing the sequence until the sequence terminates the tachycardia. The effective sequences are stored in a plurality of registers and are employed in a prescribable order for controlling the stimulation pulses. In addition to the traditional electronics, a heart pacemaker for the implementation of this method contains a tachycardia detector, a memory having N registers for the sequences to be stored, as well as a control logic for the selection of the registers and/or for changing the register values.
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Citations
18 Claims
- 1. A heart pacemaker for supplying sequences of stimulation pulses for effecting termination of a sensed tachycardia, said pacemaker comprising at least a signal detector, a controllable stimulation pulse generator for generating stimulation pulses with a controllable time interval, and a tachycardia detector, and further comprising a memory with a plurality of register means constructed for storing respective register values controlling generation of respective sequences of n stimulation pulses, said register means during pacemaker operation serving to store register values corresponding to respective sequences that are effective for the termination of a tachycardia and thereafter to supply the stored, register values during a subsequent tachycardia to control the generator to again supply the corresponding sequence, and control logic means coupled with said tachycardia detector for activation in response to a tachycardia and controlling selection of the respective register means to selectively effect the supply of the respective stored register values for the corresponding control of said generator.
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10. A method for operating a heart pacemaker for the termination of a tachycardia, comprising the following method steps:
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(a) detecting a tachycardia, (b) initiating a routine for terminating the tachycardia comprised of; (1) generating at least one first sequence having a number n of stimulation pulses within an n-dimensional space defined by the possible times S1 . . . Sn of said stimulation pulses, where n is an integer, (2) checking the heart reaction in response to the at least one first sequence, (3) changing at least one characteristic of the sequence comprised of time interval and number n of the pulses of the sequence when the at least one first sequence fails to effect termination of the tachycardia, (4) generating successive further sequences with the at least one characteristic successively changed to scan the n-dimensional space until an effective sequence for the termination of the tachycardia is generated, and (5) storing the at least one characteristic of the effective sequence as a register value in one of N registers of a memory, (c) storing successive register values representing the at least one characteristic of other effective sequences in other of said N registers of said memory, and assigning to the stored register values priority criteria related to an order of future use of the stored register values, (d) with a plurality of said N registers containing stored register values and having assigned priority criteria as a result of step (c), detecting a further tachycardia, and in response thereto successively generating previously effective sequences under the control of the respective stored register values and in an order based on the assigned priority criteria until one of the previously effective sequences is again effective to terminate the tachycardia, and (e) when all such previously effective sequences are ineffective, generating successive new sequences for the termination of the tachycardia, and checking the heart reaction to each successive new sequence.
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11. A method for operating a heart pacemaker for the termination of a tachycardia, comprising the following method steps:
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(a) detecting a tachycardia, (b) initiating a routine for terminating the tachycardia comprised of; (1) generating at least one first sequence having a number n of stimulation pulses within an n-dimensional space defined by the possible times S1 . . . Sn of said stimulation pulses, where n is a number equal to or greater than one, (2) checking the heart reaction in response to the at least one first sequence, (3) changing at least one characteristic of the sequence comprised of time interval and number n of the pulses of the sequence when the at least one first sequence fails to effect termination of the tachycardia, (4) generating successive further sequences with the at least one characteristic successively changed to scan the n-dimensional space until an effective sequence for the termination of the tachycardia is generated, and (5) storing the at least one characteristic of the effective sequence as a register value in one of N registers of a memory, (c) storing successive register values representing the at least one characteristic of other effective sequences in other of said N registers of said memory, (d) with a plurality of said N registers containing stored register values as a result of step (c), detecting a further tachycardia, and in response thereto successively generating previously effective sequences under the control of the respective stored register values in a prescribable order until one of the previously effective sequences is again effective to terminate the tachycardia, and (e) when all such previuosly effective sequences are ineffective, generating successive new sequences for the termination of the tachycardia, and checking the heart reaction to each successive new sequence, and (f) when all of said N registers have register values therein pursuant to the storing operation of step (c), replacing a stored register value in one of said N registers with a new register value representing a new sequence generated pursuant to step (e) which is effective. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification