Method and apparatus to assist cardiac muscle functioning
First Claim
1. A process for aiding the operation of the heart muscle comprising sensing the heart cycles of the heart, automatically and periodically sending to the heart muscle at a moment before the expected end of a heart cycle, electrical sub-threshold test impulses of a value insufficient to normally produce an electro-systole so long as the heart threshold is greater than a predetermined value, but sufficient to produce an electro-systole if the physiological state of the heart muscle has charged and decreased to a threshold below said predetermined value, and detecting the occurence or non-occurence of this electro-systole during a limited time window consecutive to the impulse and ending before the expected end of said heart cycle.
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Abstract
A process for aiding the operation of the heart muscle comprising periodically sending to the heart during at least certain heart cycles sub-threshold test impulses and detecting whether there occurs a systole in response during a time window following the test impulse. In the case of a response, the heart is stimulated at a frequency higher than the heart frequency in course of operation.
69 Citations
23 Claims
- 1. A process for aiding the operation of the heart muscle comprising sensing the heart cycles of the heart, automatically and periodically sending to the heart muscle at a moment before the expected end of a heart cycle, electrical sub-threshold test impulses of a value insufficient to normally produce an electro-systole so long as the heart threshold is greater than a predetermined value, but sufficient to produce an electro-systole if the physiological state of the heart muscle has charged and decreased to a threshold below said predetermined value, and detecting the occurence or non-occurence of this electro-systole during a limited time window consecutive to the impulse and ending before the expected end of said heart cycle.
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18. A device for aiding the operation of the heart muscle, comprising:
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detecting and sensing means for detecting heart systoles and sensing heart cycles, means for producing electrical stimulation pulses for the heart muscle, means responsive to said detecting and sensing means for sending out electrical stimulation impulses at a standby rhythm in the absence of detection of spontaneous heart systoles, means responsive to said detecting and sensing means for sending out electrical sub-threshold test impulses periodically to the heart muscle at a moment occuring before the expected end of a heart cycle, means for opening in the heart cycle a supervision window for the systoles at least after each test impulse, said window being closed before the expected end of the heart cycle, and means responsive to a detected systole during said window for sending out stimulation impulses at a frequency higher than the frequency of the heart rhythm. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. In an anti-tachycardia pacemaker comprising means for stimulating at an increased frequency responsive to means for detecting tachycardia, the improvement comprising means for generating and sending out periodic electrical sub-threshold test impulses, means for detecting a systole occuring during a predetermined supervision window after each test impulse, and means for increasing the frequency of the stimulating means in response to detection of a systole during said predetermined supervision window.
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22. A device for aiding the operation of the heart muscle, comprising:
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detecting and sensing means for detecting heart systoles and sensing heart cycles, means for producing electrical stimulation pulses for the heart muscle, means responsive to said detecting and sensing means for sending out electrical stimulation impulses at a standby rhythm in the absence of detection of spontaneous heart systoles, means for generating and sending an electrical sub-threshold test impulse to the heart muscle at least once for every 1 to 100 heart cycles, at a moment occuring before the expected end of a heart cycle, means for opening in the heart cycle a supervision window for the systoles at least after each test impulse, said window being closed before the expected end of the heart cycle, and means responsive to a detected systole during said window for sending out stimulation impulses at a frequency higher than the frequency of the heart rhythm. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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Specification