Method and device for enhancement of cardiac contractility
First Claim
1. A method of ultrasound enhancement of the cardiac contractility of a patient'"'"'s heart under treatment comprising the steps ofcontinuously acquiring EKG signals reperesenting actual cardiac cycles of the heart, each cycle consisting of a systole and a diastole,discirminating each of the EKG signals to generate a discriminated EKG pulse,generating in response to each of the EKG pulses a delay pulse indicative of a delay interval,producing an ultrasound gating pulse in response to each of the delay pulses, the said ultrasound gating pulse having a duration shorter than the period of each diastole,activating ultrasound generating means in response to each of the untrasound gating pulses to generate a pulse of ultrasound having a duration the same as that of the ultrasound gating pulse and the intensity of between 0.2 W/cm2 and 2.0 W/cm2 SATA, andapplying the said pulses of ultrasound to the heart under treatment in such a manner that each of said pulses of ultrasound is applied during the period of each diastole so that the contractility of the heart is enhanced.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for ultrasonic irradiation of the heart either when the chest is open after surgery or through the chest wall. It may also be used in conjunction with electrical defibrillation equipment or alone. The apparatus includes an EKG for detecting the heart beat, an ultrasonic generator and timing and pulsing circuits for providing timed pulses of ultrasound to coincide with selected events in the cardiac cycle.
224 Citations
10 Claims
-
1. A method of ultrasound enhancement of the cardiac contractility of a patient'"'"'s heart under treatment comprising the steps of
continuously acquiring EKG signals reperesenting actual cardiac cycles of the heart, each cycle consisting of a systole and a diastole, discirminating each of the EKG signals to generate a discriminated EKG pulse, generating in response to each of the EKG pulses a delay pulse indicative of a delay interval, producing an ultrasound gating pulse in response to each of the delay pulses, the said ultrasound gating pulse having a duration shorter than the period of each diastole, activating ultrasound generating means in response to each of the untrasound gating pulses to generate a pulse of ultrasound having a duration the same as that of the ultrasound gating pulse and the intensity of between 0.2 W/cm2 and 2.0 W/cm2 SATA, and applying the said pulses of ultrasound to the heart under treatment in such a manner that each of said pulses of ultrasound is applied during the period of each diastole so that the contractility of the heart is enhanced.
-
6. An apparatus for ultrasonic enhancement of the cardiac contractility of a patient'"'"'s heart under treatment comprising
EKG means for continuously acquiring EKG signals representing actual cardiac caycles of the heart, each cycle consisting of a systole and a diastole, discriminating means for discriminating each of the EKG signals to generate a discriminated EKG pulse, delay means for generating in response to each of the EKG pulses, a delay pulse indicative of a delay interval, gating pulse means for producing an ultrasound gating pulse in response to each of the delay pulses, the said ultrasound gating pulse having a duration shorter than the period of each diastole, activating means, including ultrasound generating means for generating, in response to each of the ultrasound gating pulses, a pulse of ultrasound having a duration the same as that of the ultrasound gating pulse and the intensity of between 0.2 W/cm2 and 2.0 W/cm2 SATA, and application means for applying the said pulses of ultrasound to the heart under treatment so that each of said pulses of ultrasound is applied during the period of each diastole.
Specification