System and method for determining spatial organization of atrial activation
First Claim
1. A method of evaluating the effectiveness of a medication towards terminating an atrial arrhythmia of a heart of a patient, said method including the steps of:
- (a) sensing electrical activity of an atrium of a heart at a predetermined number of different localized locations within the atrium, the localized locations being spaced apart by preselected distances with respect to each other;
(b) generating a like predetermined number of electrograms, each electrogram representing the electrical activity sensed at each of the predetermined number of localized locations;
(c) cross-correlating the electrogram generated for at least one of the localized locations with the electrogram generated for at least one other one of the localized locations to derive a pre-medication correlation value for at least one of the preselected distances;
(d) administering the medication to the patient;
(e) after a predetermined period of time, repeating steps (a) and (b);
(f) cross-correlating the electrogram generated for said at least one of the localized locations with the electrogram generated for said at least one other of the localized locations to derive a post-medication correlation value for said at least one of the preselected distances;
(g) comparing the pre-medication correlation value to the post-medication correlation value, and(h) determining if post-medication correlation value is greater than the pre-medication correlation value.
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Abstract
A system and method evaluates the spatial organization of atrial activation sequences of a heart. Electrical activity of an atrium is sensed at a predetermined number of different localized locations within the atrium to generate a like predetermined number of electrograms. The electrogram generated for each localized location is cross-correlated with the electrograms generated for every other localized location to derive a set of correlation values. A space constant derivable from the correlation values or the correlation values themselves may be used to evaluate antiarrhythmic drug effectiveness or, within an implantable atrial defibrillator, atrial arrhythmia type.
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Citations
2 Claims
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1. A method of evaluating the effectiveness of a medication towards terminating an atrial arrhythmia of a heart of a patient, said method including the steps of:
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(a) sensing electrical activity of an atrium of a heart at a predetermined number of different localized locations within the atrium, the localized locations being spaced apart by preselected distances with respect to each other; (b) generating a like predetermined number of electrograms, each electrogram representing the electrical activity sensed at each of the predetermined number of localized locations; (c) cross-correlating the electrogram generated for at least one of the localized locations with the electrogram generated for at least one other one of the localized locations to derive a pre-medication correlation value for at least one of the preselected distances; (d) administering the medication to the patient; (e) after a predetermined period of time, repeating steps (a) and (b); (f) cross-correlating the electrogram generated for said at least one of the localized locations with the electrogram generated for said at least one other of the localized locations to derive a post-medication correlation value for said at least one of the preselected distances; (g) comparing the pre-medication correlation value to the post-medication correlation value, and (h) determining if post-medication correlation value is greater than the pre-medication correlation value.
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2. A method of evaluating the effectiveness of a medication upon an atrial arrhythmia of a heart of a patient, said method including the steps of:
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(a) sensing electrical activity of an atrium of a heart at a predetermined number of different localized locations within the atrium, the localized locations being spaced apart by preselected distances with respect to each other; (b) generating a like predetermined number of electrograms, each electrogram representing the electrical activity sensed at each of the predetermined number of localized locations; (c) cross-correlating the electrogram generated for each localized location with the electrogram generated for every other localized location to derive a pre-medication correlation value for each preselected distance; (d) administering the medication to the patient; (e) after a predetermined period of time, repeating steps (a) and (b); (f) cross-correlating the electrogram generated for each localized location with the electrogram generated for every other localized location to derive a post-medication correlation value for each preselected distance; (g) deriving a pre-medication average correlation value from the pre-medication correlation values for each preselected distance; (h) deriving a pre-medication space constant from the pre-medication average correlation values; (i) deriving a post-medication average correlation value from the post-medication correlation value for each preselected distance; (j) deriving a post-medication space constant from the post-medication average correlation values; (k) comparing the pre-medication space constant to the post-medication space constant; and (l) determining if the post-medication space constant is greater then the pre-medication space constant.
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Specification