Implantable electrical vagal stimulation for prevention or interruption of life threatening arrhythmias
First Claim
1. A method for treating a cardiac arrhythmia comprising the steps of:
- continuously measuring the electrogram of the patient'"'"'s heart;
detecting certain characteristics of said electrogram indicative of tachycardia;
initiating the storage of a sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram upon detection of a tachycardia;
delivering one or more electrical stimulation therapies to the patient'"'"'s nervous system for depressing the patient'"'"'s heart rate;
providing a patient selection trigger to permit a patient to cause the delivery of a preset electrical stimulation therapy to the patient'"'"'s nervous system;
providing patient initiated storage means to permit the patient to initiate storage of said sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram and said delivering of said one or more electrical stimulation therapies to the patient'"'"'s nervous system for depressing the patient'"'"'s heart rate; and
initiating the storage of a further sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram following delivery of said stimulation therapies.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for stimulating the right or left vagus nerve with continuous and/or phasic electrical pulses, the latter in a specific relationship with the R-wave of the patient'"'"'s electrogram. The automatic detection of the need for vagal stimulation is responsive to increases in the heart rate greater than a predetermined threshold, the occurrence of frequent or complex ventricular arrhythmias, and/or a change in the ST segment elevation greater than a predetermined or programmed threshold. The system is described with a microprocessor driven, brady therapy device with programming and telemetry capabilities for recording in memory the aforementioned stimulation triggering indicia, including electrogram segments for periods of time preceding and following each instance of vagal stimulation for telemetry out on command.
904 Citations
10 Claims
-
1. A method for treating a cardiac arrhythmia comprising the steps of:
-
continuously measuring the electrogram of the patient'"'"'s heart; detecting certain characteristics of said electrogram indicative of tachycardia; initiating the storage of a sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram upon detection of a tachycardia; delivering one or more electrical stimulation therapies to the patient'"'"'s nervous system for depressing the patient'"'"'s heart rate; providing a patient selection trigger to permit a patient to cause the delivery of a preset electrical stimulation therapy to the patient'"'"'s nervous system; providing patient initiated storage means to permit the patient to initiate storage of said sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram and said delivering of said one or more electrical stimulation therapies to the patient'"'"'s nervous system for depressing the patient'"'"'s heart rate; and initiating the storage of a further sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram following delivery of said stimulation therapies. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. Apparatus for treating a cardiac arrhythmia comprising:
-
means for continuously measuring the electrogram of the patient'"'"'s heart; means for detecting certain characteristics of said electrogram indicative of tachycardia; means for a sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram upon detection of tachycardia; means for delivering one or more electrical stimulation therapies to the patient'"'"'s nervous system for depressing the patient'"'"'s heart rate; patient selection trigger means for permitting a patient to cause the delivery of a preset electrical stimulation therapy to the patient'"'"'s nervous system; patient initiated storage means for permitting the patient to initiate storage of said sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram and said delivering of said one or more electrical stimulation therapies to the patient'"'"'s nervous system for depressing the patient'"'"'s heart rate; and means for storing of a further sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram following delivery of said stimulation therapies. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method for treating a cardiac arrhythmia comprising the steps of:
-
continuously measuring the electrogram of the patient'"'"'s heart; examining the QRST segment of the patient'"'"'s electrogram; measuring the ST segment elevation of said QRST components of said electrogram; comparing the measured ST segment elevation to a threshold ST segment elevation and counting the number of elevated ST segments exceeding the threshold ST segment elevation; and delivering one or more electrical stimulation therapies to the patient'"'"'s nervous system for depressing the patient'"'"'s heart rate; providing a patient selection trigger to permit a patient to cause the delivery of a preset electrical stimulation therapy to the patient'"'"'s nervous system; and providing patient initiated storage means to permit the patient to initiate storage of said sequence of said characteristics of said electrogram and said delivering of said one or more electrical stimulation therapies to the patient'"'"'s nervous system for depressing the patient'"'"'s heart rate. - View Dependent Claims (10)
-
Specification