Method and apparatus for alleviating cardioversion shock pain
First Claim
1. An implantable medical device system for delivering cardioversion energy to at least one chamber of a patient'"'"'s heart in need of cardioversion and for alleviating pain attendant to delivery of cardioversion energy comprising:
- detecting means for detecting activity of a chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart;
determining means responsive to the detecting means for determining when the chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart is in need of cardioversion;
cardioverting means responsive to the determining means for delivering cardioversion energy to the chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart when the chamber is in need of cardioversion; and
means for delivering neurostimulation pulses to the patient'"'"'s nervous system to effect analgesia at an appropriate site in the patient'"'"'s body in conjunction with delivery of cardioversion energy to the heart chamber to reduce pain felt by the patient arising from delivery of the cardioversion energy.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An implantable cardioverter for providing cardioversion electrical energy to at least one chamber of a patient'"'"'s heart in need of cardioversion and applying a pain alleviating therapy at an appropriate site in the patient'"'"'s body prior to or in conjunction with the delivery of the cardioversion energy to the heart chamber to alleviate propagated pain perceived by the patient. The combined cardioversion and pain alleviating therapies are preferably realized in a single implantable, multi-programmable medical device or separate implantable cardioversion and pain control devices with means for communicating operating and status commands between the devices through the patient'"'"'s body.
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Citations
56 Claims
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1. An implantable medical device system for delivering cardioversion energy to at least one chamber of a patient'"'"'s heart in need of cardioversion and for alleviating pain attendant to delivery of cardioversion energy comprising:
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detecting means for detecting activity of a chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart; determining means responsive to the detecting means for determining when the chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart is in need of cardioversion; cardioverting means responsive to the determining means for delivering cardioversion energy to the chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart when the chamber is in need of cardioversion; and means for delivering neurostimulation pulses to the patient'"'"'s nervous system to effect analgesia at an appropriate site in the patient'"'"'s body in conjunction with delivery of cardioversion energy to the heart chamber to reduce pain felt by the patient arising from delivery of the cardioversion energy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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3. An implantable medical device system for delivering cardioversion energy to at least one chamber of a patient'"'"'s heart in need of cardioversion and for alleviating pain attendant to delivery of cardioversion energy comprising:
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detecting means for detecting activity of a chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart; determining means responsive to the detecting means for determining when the chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart is in need of cardioversion; cardioverting means responsive to the determining means for delivering cardioversion energy to the chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart when the chamber is in need of cardioversion; and means for applying a pain alleviating therapy at an appropriate site in the patient'"'"'s body in conjunction with delivery of cardioversion energy to the heart chamber to reduce pain felt by the patient during delivery of the cardioversion energy; and
wherein the pain alleviating therapy applying means comprises means for delivering neurostimulation pulses to the patient'"'"'s nervous system to effect analgesia,means for timing delivery of cardioversion energy from the application of the pain alleviating therapy to allow time dependent effects of the applied pain alleviating therapy to take effect. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An implantable medical device for delivering cardioversion energy to the atria of a patient'"'"'s heart in need of atrial cardioversion and for alleviating pain attendant to the delivery of the atrial cardioversion energy comprising:
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detecting means for detecting electrical activity of the atria of the patient'"'"'s heart; determining means responsive to the detecting means for determining when the atria are in need of cardioversion; implantable atrial cardioversion means for delivering atrial cardioversion shocks to the patient'"'"'s atria in need of cardioversion; and implantable pain alleviating means for applying a pain alleviating therapy to the patient'"'"'s body in conjunction with delivery of atrial cardioversion shocks to reduce pain felt by the patient. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of delivering cardioversion energy to at least one chamber of a patient'"'"'s heart in need of cardioversion comprising the steps of:
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detecting activity of the at least one chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart; determining from the detected activity when the at least one chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart is in need of cardioversion; delivering neurostimulation pulses to the patient'"'"'s nervous system to effect analgesia to alleviate pain in body tissue arising from the delivery of the cardioversion energy; and delivering cardioversion energy to the at least one chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart. - View Dependent Claims (26, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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27. A method of delivering cardioversion energy to at least one chamber of a patient'"'"'s heart in need of cardioversion comprising the steps of:
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detecting activity of the at least one chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart; determining from the detected activity when the at least one chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart is in need of cardioversion; applying a pain alleviating therapy to a site in the patient'"'"'s body to alleviate pain in body tissue arising from the delivery of the cardioversion energy; and delivering cardioversion energy to the at least one chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart; and timing the delivery of the cardioversion energy from the application of the pain alleviating therapy sufficiently to allow time dependent analgesia effects of the applied pain alleviating therapy to take effect. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method of providing cardioversion energy to the atria of a patient'"'"'s heart in need of atrial cardioversion and for alleviating pain attendant to the delivery of the atrial cardioversion energy comprising the steps of:
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detecting electrical activity of the atria of the patient'"'"'s heart; in response to the detecting step, determining when the atria are in need of cardioversion; delivering atrial cardioversion shocks to the patient'"'"'s atria in need of cardioversion; and applying a pain alleviating therapy to the patient'"'"'s body in conjunction with the delivery of the atrial cardioversion shocks to reduce pain felt by the patient. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification