Tissue characterization and treatment using pacing
First Claim
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1. A method for characterizing heart tissue, comprising:
- (a) applying pacing signals with varying pacing cycle intervals to a chamber of a heart of a patient to pace the patient'"'"'s heart without inducing ventricular tachycardia;
(b) receiving response signals generated by the paced heart; and
(c) characterizing the patient'"'"'s heart tissue based on the response signals.
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Abstract
Heart tissue is characterized by using pacing without inducing ventricular tachycardia (VT). With the tissue characterization, a patient'"'"'s risk of developing VT can be determined and a slow conduction zone in the patient'"'"'s heart can be determined. The characterization involves applying pacing signals with varying pacing cycle intervals to a chamber of the patient'"'"'s heart to pace the patient'"'"'s heart. The response signals generated by the paced heart are received and used as the basis for characterizing the patient'"'"'s heart tissue.
315 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for characterizing heart tissue, comprising:
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(a) applying pacing signals with varying pacing cycle intervals to a chamber of a heart of a patient to pace the patient'"'"'s heart without inducing ventricular tachycardia; (b) receiving response signals generated by the paced heart; and (c) characterizing the patient'"'"'s heart tissue based on the response signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for characterizing heart tissue, comprising:
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(a) placing at least two electrodes in a chamber of a heart of a patient; (b) using at least one of the electrodes to apply sequentially pacing signals with predetermined varying pacing cycle intervals at multiple sites within the chamber to pace the heart without inducing ventricular tachycardia; (c) using at least one of the electrodes to receive response signals produced by the paced heart; and (d) characterizing the patient'"'"'s heart tissue based on the response signals. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for characterizing heart tissue, comprising:
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a signal generator for use with a plurality of electrodes adapted for applying pacing signals to a chamber of a heart of a patient to pace the patient'"'"'s heart, the signal generator also for generating and delivering to the heart via at least some of the electrodes pacing signals with varying pacing cycle intervals without inducing ventricular tachycardia in the patient'"'"'s heart; and a recorder system for use with the plurality of electrodes and for receiving response signals generated by a paced heart and characterizing the patient'"'"'s heart tissue based on the response signals. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. The system of claim 29 further comprising an ablation catheter and an ablation energy source, the ablation catheter being in electrical communication with the ablation energy source and the ablation catheter being adapted to treat an identified slow conduction zone to inhibit electrical conduction by the slow conduction zone in response to the identification signal.
Specification