Method and apparatus for cardiac pacing to prevent atrial fibrillation
First Claim
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1. A cardiac pacemaker, comprising:
- means for sensing atrial depolarizations of a patient'"'"' heart;
means for defining atrial escape intervals following sensed atrial depolarizations;
means for defining atrial premature beat sensing intervals less than the atrial escape intervals, following sensed atrial depolarizations;
means for delivering atrial pacing pulses to the patient'"'"'s heart in response to expirations of the atrial escape intervals in an absence of sensed atrial depolarizations during the atrial escape interval; and
means for delivering atrial pacing pulses simultaneously to multiple points on a patient'"'"'s atria in response to a single atrial depolarization sensed during a single atrial premature beat sensing interval.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for preventing fibrillation, particularly atrial fibrillation or flutter. In response to detection of an atrial premature beat at any given site in the atrial chamber, a low energy pulse burst is delivered to multiple sites of at least one chamber of the atrium for a time period sufficient to depolarize the entire atrium. Preferably, multiple pairs of sense electrodes are distributed about an atrial chamber or both atria to define discrete sensing sites and to widely distribute the simultaneously applied pacing energy pulse burst. Bradycardia pacing between the multiple electrode pairs is also preferably provided.
333 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A cardiac pacemaker, comprising:
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means for sensing atrial depolarizations of a patient'"'"' heart; means for defining atrial escape intervals following sensed atrial depolarizations; means for defining atrial premature beat sensing intervals less than the atrial escape intervals, following sensed atrial depolarizations; means for delivering atrial pacing pulses to the patient'"'"'s heart in response to expirations of the atrial escape intervals in an absence of sensed atrial depolarizations during the atrial escape interval; and means for delivering atrial pacing pulses simultaneously to multiple points on a patient'"'"'s atria in response to a single atrial depolarization sensed during a single atrial premature beat sensing interval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of cardiac pacing, comprising:
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sensing atrial depolarizations of a patient'"'"'s heart; defining atrial escape intervals following sensed atrial depolarizations; defining atrial premature beat sensing intervals less than the atrial escape intervals, following sensed atrial depolarizations; delivering atrial pacing pulses to the patients heart in response to expirations of the atrial escape intervals in an absence of sensed atrial depolarizations during the atrial escape intervals; and delivering atrial pacing pulses simultaneously to multiple points on a patient'"'"'s atria in response to a single atrial depolarization sensed during a single atrial premature beat sensing interval. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A cardiac pacemaker, comprising:
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means for sensing depolarizations of a patient'"'"'s atria at a plurality of locations on the patient'"'"'s atria; means for defining atrial escape intervals following sensed atrial depolarizations; means for defining atrial premature beat sensing intervals less than the atrial escape intervals, following sensed atrial depolarizations; means for delivering atrial pacing pulses to the patient'"'"'s heart in response to expirations of the atrial escape intervals in an absence of atrial depolarizations sensed during the atrial escape interval; and means for delivering atrial pacing pulses simultaneously to the plurality of locations in response to a single atrial depolarization sensed at any of the plurality of locations during a single atrial premature beat sensing interval. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of cardiac pacing, comprising:
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sensing atrial depolarizations at a plurality of locations on a patient'"'"'s atria; defining atrial escape intervals following sensed atrial depolarizations; defining atrial premature beat sensing intervals less than the atrial escape intervals, following sensed atrial depolarizations; delivering atrial pacing pulses to the patients heart in response to expirations of the atrial escape intervals in an absence of atrial depolarizations sensed during the atrial escape intervals; and delivering atrial pacing pulses simultaneously to the plurality of locations in response to a single atrial depolarization sensed at any of the plurality of locations during a single atrial premature beat sensing interval. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification