Method of inhibiting cardiac arrhythmias
First Claim
1. In a method of pacing a heart, which includes the step of applying electrical stimuli to the heart to propagate rhythmic responses, the improvement comprising the steps of determining a characteristic refractory time period between a patient'"'"'s rhythmic responses within which an electrical stimulus can be applied to the patient'"'"'s heart without propagating a heart response, sensing each rhythmic heart response, determining a time within the refractory time period after each sensed rhythmic heart response for the application of an electrical stimulus to the heart, after each rhythmic heart response, generating a conditioning electrical stimulus having an amplitude which is a function of the determined time so that it will not propagate a heart response, and applying the conditioning electrical stimulus to the patient'"'"'s heart at the determined time during the refractory time period after the sensed rhythmic heart response to inhibit a subsequent spontaneous arrhythmic response before the next rhythmic heart response.
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Abstract
Inhibition of cardiac arrhythmias such as tachycardia and fibrillation is achieved by determining a refractory period after a selected heartbeat during which a stimulus applied to the heart will not propagate a heart response, determining a time within the refractory period after the selected heartbeat for the application of one or more electrical pulses to the heart to inhibit arrhythmic beats, determining a voltage of the electrical pulse as a function of the time which will inhibit the arrhythmic beats, and applying the electrical pulse to an area of the heart at the determined time to inhibit the arrhythmic beats. A plurality of electrical pulses may be employed having various voltage levels related to the times at which they are applied during the refractory period. One or more electrical pulses may be applied after the refractory period, each having a voltage providing a current less than a threshold current which would propagate a heart response.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. In a method of pacing a heart, which includes the step of applying electrical stimuli to the heart to propagate rhythmic responses, the improvement comprising the steps of determining a characteristic refractory time period between a patient'"'"'s rhythmic responses within which an electrical stimulus can be applied to the patient'"'"'s heart without propagating a heart response, sensing each rhythmic heart response, determining a time within the refractory time period after each sensed rhythmic heart response for the application of an electrical stimulus to the heart, after each rhythmic heart response, generating a conditioning electrical stimulus having an amplitude which is a function of the determined time so that it will not propagate a heart response, and applying the conditioning electrical stimulus to the patient'"'"'s heart at the determined time during the refractory time period after the sensed rhythmic heart response to inhibit a subsequent spontaneous arrhythmic response before the next rhythmic heart response.
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2. A method of inhibiting cardiac arrhythmias before they occur comprising the steps of determining a characteristic refractory time period between a patient'"'"'s heartbeats within which an electrical stimulus can be applied to the patient'"'"'s heart without propagating a heart response, sensing each beat of the patient'"'"'s heart;
- after each sensed heartbeat, generating an electrical pulse having an amplitude which will not propagate a heart response, and applying the electrical pulse to a portion of the patient'"'"'s heart during the refractory time period after each sensed heartbeat to inhibit a subsequent spontaneous arrhythmic beat before it occurs.
- View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Specification