Leadless implantable sensor assembly and a cardiac emergency warning alarm
First Claim
1. A cardiac arrhythmia alarm for chronic subcutaneous implantation within a patient'"'"'s body, comprising:
- a hermetically-sealed housing;
an electromagnetic sensor fully enclosed within said housing, said sensor including an antenna, means for applying measuring currents to said antenna, said measuring currents having frequency components within a range of from approximately 10 kilohertz to approximately 1000 megahertz, means for controlling said measuring current applying means to limit the frequency components of the applied measuring currents to lie within at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies such that the measured voltage within each subrange of frequencies corresponds to a measurement of physical motion within the patient'"'"'s body relating to a particular physiological function, means for measuring voltages developed at said antenna in response to the application of said measuring currents, and means for deriving at least one physiological parameter from the measured voltage corresponding to each of said at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies;
means responsive to said sensor for detecting a cardiac arrhythmia, said detecting means being fully enclosed within said housing; and
said acoustic alarm within said housing responsive to said detecting means for notifying the patient of an arrhythmia condition.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A leadless implantable cardiac arrhythmia alarm is disclosed which continuously assesses a patient'"'"'s heart function to discriminate between normal and abnormal heart functioning and, upon detecting an abnormal condition, generates a patient-warning signal. The alarm is capable of sensing impedance measurements of heart, respiratory and patient motion and, from these measurements, generating an alarm signal when the measurements indicate the occurrence of a cardiac arrhythmia. Because it requires no external leads or feedthrough connectors, the hermetically-sealed patient alarm is minimally invasive and results in reduced trauma to a patient.
-
Citations
44 Claims
-
1. A cardiac arrhythmia alarm for chronic subcutaneous implantation within a patient'"'"'s body, comprising:
-
a hermetically-sealed housing; an electromagnetic sensor fully enclosed within said housing, said sensor including an antenna, means for applying measuring currents to said antenna, said measuring currents having frequency components within a range of from approximately 10 kilohertz to approximately 1000 megahertz, means for controlling said measuring current applying means to limit the frequency components of the applied measuring currents to lie within at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies such that the measured voltage within each subrange of frequencies corresponds to a measurement of physical motion within the patient'"'"'s body relating to a particular physiological function, means for measuring voltages developed at said antenna in response to the application of said measuring currents, and means for deriving at least one physiological parameter from the measured voltage corresponding to each of said at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies; means responsive to said sensor for detecting a cardiac arrhythmia, said detecting means being fully enclosed within said housing; and said acoustic alarm within said housing responsive to said detecting means for notifying the patient of an arrhythmia condition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A cardiac arrhythmia alarm for chronic subcutaneous implantation within a patient'"'"'s body, capable of communicating with an information-receiving device, comprising:
-
a hermetically-sealed housing; an electromagnetic sensor fully enclosed within said housing, said sensor including an antenna, means for applying measuring currents to said antenna, said measuring currents having frequency components within a range of from approximately 10 kilohertz to approximately 1000 megahertz, means for controlling said measuring current applying means to limit the frequency components of the applied measuring currents to lie within at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies such that the measured voltage within each subrange of frequencies corresponds to a measurement of physical motion within the patient'"'"'s body relating to a particular physiological function, means for measuring voltages developed at said antenna in response to the application of said measuring currents, and means for deriving at least one physiological parameter from the measured voltage corresponding to each of said at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies; means responsive to said sensor for determining a heart abnormality, said detecting means being fully enclosed within said housing; and a transmitter within said housing responsive to said determining means for communicating with said information-receiving device to report on the heart abnormality. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A cardiac arrhythmia alarm for chronic subcutaneous implantation within a patient'"'"'s body, capable of communicating with an information-receiving device, comprising:
-
a hermetically-sealed housing; an electromagnetic sensor fully enclosed within said housing, said sensor including an antenna, means for applying measuring currents to said antenna, said measuring currents having frequency components within a range of from approximately 10 kilohertz to approximately 1000 megahertz, means for controlling said measuring current applying means to limit the frequency components of the applied measuring currents to lie within at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies such that the measured voltage within each subrange of frequencies corresponds to a measurement of physical motion within the patient'"'"'s body relating to a particular physiological function, means for measuring voltages developed at said antenna in response to the application of said measuring currents, and means for deriving at least one physiological parameter from the measured voltage corresponding to each of said at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies; means responsive to said sensor for deriving cardiac information therefrom, said responsive means being fully enclosed within said housing; and means within said housing responsive to said deriving means for communicating with said information-receiving device to report on the derived cardiac information.
-
-
21. A method for monitoring a patient'"'"'s heartbeat signals using a hermetically-sealed cardiac arrhythmia alarm apparatus to detect and warn of a cardiac arrhythmia condition comprising the steps of:
-
measuring impedance within the patient'"'"'s body, said impedance measuring step comprising the substeps of applying measuring currents to an antenna fully enclosed within the apparatus and measuring voltages developed at the antenna in response to the application of said measuring currents, said measuring currents having frequency components within a range from approximately 10 kilohertz to approximately 1000 megahertz; controlling the frequency components of the applied measuring current to lie within at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies such that the measured voltage within each subrange of frequencies corresponds to a measurement of a physiological parameter; deriving at least one physiological parameter from the measured voltage corresponding to each of said at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies; analyzing the derived at least one physiological parameter to detect a physiological condition indicative of a heart abnormality; and upon the detection of a heart abnormality, activating an acoustic alarm within said apparatus to notify the patient of said heart abnormality. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
-
-
38. A leadless cardiac sensor assembly for chronic subcutaneous implantation within a patient'"'"'s body, comprising:
-
a hermetically-sealed housing; and an electromagnetic sensor fully enclosed within said housing, said sensor including an antenna, means for applying excitation signals to said antenna, said excitation signals having frequency components within a range of from approximately 10 kilohertz to approximately 1000 megahertz, means for controlling said excitation signal applying means to limit the frequency components of the applied excitation signals to lie within at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies such that a received signal within each subrange of frequencies corresponds to a measurement of physical motion within the patient'"'"'s body relating to a particular physiological function, means for measuring received signals developed at said antenna in response to the application of said excitation signals, and means for deriving at least one physiological parameter from the received signal corresponding to each of said at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
-
-
41. A device for monitoring body organs, body tissues or fluid contents thereof, said device comprising:
-
a hermetically-sealed housing; and an electromagnetic sensor fully enclosed within said housing, said sensor including; (a) an antenna, (b) means for applying excitation signals to said antenna, said excitation signals having frequency components exceeding 10 kilohertz, (c) means for controlling said excitation signal applying means to limit the frequency components of the applied excitation signals to lie within at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies such that a received signal within each subrange of frequencies corresponds to a physiological parameter within the patient'"'"'s body relating to a particular physiological function, (d) means for measuring received signals developed at said antenna in response to the application of said excitation signals, and (e) means for deriving said parameter from the received signals. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43)
-
-
44. A method for monitoring a patient'"'"'s heartbeat signals using a hermetically-sealed leaderless sensor apparatus to generate a signal indicative of a cardiac parameter comprising the steps of:
-
measuring impedance within the patient'"'"'s body, said impedance measuring step comprising the substeps of applying measuring currents to an antenna fully enclosed within the apparatus and measuring signals developed at the antenna in response to the application of said measuring currents, said measuring currents having frequency components within a range from approximately 10 kilohertz; controlling the frequency components of the applied measuring current to lie within at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies such that the measured signal within each subrange of frequencies corresponds to a measurement of a physiological parameter; and deriving at least one physiological parameter from the measured voltage corresponding to said at least one predetermined subrange of frequencies.
-
Specification