Apparatus and method for adjusting heart/pacer relative to changes in venous diameter during exercise to obtain a required cardiac output.
First Claim
1. An apparatus for pacing a heart in accordance with the heart/pacer rate needed to produce a required cardiac output while a person is exercising, said apparatus acting in response to change in venous blood vessel diameter and comprising:
- a pacer for implantation in a human body and having a pulse generator and control circuitry including a microprocessor for controlling operation of said pulse generator;
a pacing lead for implantation in a heart having a tip electrode for engaging and supplying pacing pulses to a right ventricle of a heart;
means for determining changes in diameter of a vein in the human body; and
said control circuitry including means for relating the changes in venous blood vessel diameter with the required pacing rate needed to supply a desired cardiac output and means for causing said pacer to pace the heart at the required rate when the heart is not naturally paced.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The apparatus paces a heart in accordance with the heart/pacer rate needed to produce a required cardiac output while a person is exercising or undergoes emotional stress in response to changes in venous blood vessel diameter. The apparatus includes a pacer adapted to be implanted in a human body and having a pulse generator and control circuitry, which may be realized by a microprocessor, therein; a pacing lead adapted to be implanted in a heart having a tip electrode adapted to engage and supply pacing pulses to a right ventricle of a heart; a piezoelectric sensor for determining changes in diameter of a vein in the human body; and computing circuitry including the control circuitry, for relating the changes in venous blood vessel diameter with the required pacing rate needed to supply a desired cardiac output and for causing the pacer to pace the heart at the required rate when the heart is not naturally paced.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for pacing a heart in accordance with the heart/pacer rate needed to produce a required cardiac output while a person is exercising, said apparatus acting in response to change in venous blood vessel diameter and comprising:
-
a pacer for implantation in a human body and having a pulse generator and control circuitry including a microprocessor for controlling operation of said pulse generator; a pacing lead for implantation in a heart having a tip electrode for engaging and supplying pacing pulses to a right ventricle of a heart; means for determining changes in diameter of a vein in the human body; and said control circuitry including means for relating the changes in venous blood vessel diameter with the required pacing rate needed to supply a desired cardiac output and means for causing said pacer to pace the heart at the required rate when the heart is not naturally paced. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
- 2. The apparatus of claim I wherein said means for determining changes in diameter of a vein comprise piezoelectric sensing means.
-
10. A method for pacing a heart in accordance with the heart rate needed to produce a required cardiac output while the person is exercising in response to changes in venous blood vessel diameter, comprising the steps of:
-
sensing natural pacing of a heart; determining changes in the diameter of a vein; relating the changes in venous blood vessel diameter with the required heart rate needed to supply a desired cardiac output; and pacing the heart at the required heart rate when the heart is not naturally paced. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A system for pacing a heart in accordance with the heart/pacer rate needed to produce a required cardiac output while a person is exercising, comprising:
- a pacer for implantation in a human body and having a pulse generator and control circuitry including a microprocessor for controlling said pulse generator;
a pacing lead for implatation in a heart having a tip electrode for engaging and supplying pacing pulses to a right ventricle of a heart;
means for determining changes in a heart function parameter;
said control circuitry including means for relating the changes in the heart function parameter with the required pacing rate needed to supply desired cardiac output and means for causing said pacer to pace the heart at the required rate when the heart is not naturally paced;
means for sensing changes in diameter of a vein in the human body which are anticipatory of the need for an increased cardiac output as a result of emotional stress or the beginning of exercise and for alerting said control circuitry, when the vein diameter decreases that a higher cardiac output will soon be needed; and
means for causing said control circuitry to increase the pacing rate in anticipation of the need for increased cardiac output.
- a pacer for implantation in a human body and having a pulse generator and control circuitry including a microprocessor for controlling said pulse generator;
-
18. A method for pacing a heart in accordance with the heart rate needed to produce a required cardiac output while a person is exercising, comprising the steps of:
- determining changes in a heart function parameter;
determining changes in the diameter of a vein which are anticipatory of the need for an increased cardiac output as a result of emotional stress or the beginning of exercise;
causing an increase in pacing rate when the vein diameter decreases to a first higher rate;
relating the changes in heart function parameter with the required heart rate needed to supply a desired cardiac output; and
pacing the heart at the first higher rate until the rate determined by changes in heart function parameter is the same as said first higher rate; and
thereafter controlling the pacing rate relative to changes in the heart function parameter.
- determining changes in a heart function parameter;
Specification