Implantable electronic system with acute myocardial infarction detection and patient warning capabilities
First Claim
1. A cardiosaver system for indicating to a human subject that a myocardial infarction is occurring, the system comprising:
- an implantable sensor for detecting the occurrence of a myocardial infarction, the implantable sensor being adapted for implantation within the human subject, the sensor also having an output electrical signal that is the electrogram that is generated by the heart of the human subject;
an implanted alarm means for informing the human subject that a myocardial infarction is occurring, the implanted alarm means being adapted for implantation within the human subject;
the implantable sensor and the implanted alarm means both being parts of a cardiosaver that is adapted for implantation into the human subject; and
the cardiosaver further comprising a radio transmitter that is adapted to transmit a radio signal to a close proximity alarm system which includes an external alarm means, the cardiosaver being adapted to simultaneously trigger the implanted alarm means within the human subject and activate the external alarm means within the close proximity alarm system when the cardsiosaver detects that the human subject is having a myocardial infarction.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a system for detecting a myocardial infarction (i.e., a heart attack) at the earliest possible time and promptly warning the patient that he should immediately seek medical care. Specifically, a first embodiment of the present invention has an implantable electronic system that can sense a change in the patient'"'"'s electrogram that is indicative of a myocardial infarction. If a myocardial infarction is sensed, the device would then cause an implantable or externally located alarm means such as an audio sound to be actuated to warn the patient of his condition. The patient could then promptly seek medical care, for example, at a hospital emergency room. Having been trained to recognize such an alarm, most patient would neither fail to recognize such an indication of a myocardial infarction nor would they ignore such an alarm signal if it were to occur. Since an implantable heart pacemaker or defibrillator already has within its structure many of the elements required for the device to recognize a myocardial infarction, it would be expeditious to add a capability to these existing devices to detect a myocardial infarction and provide an implantable or external alarm means to inform the patient to take appropriate action.
481 Citations
39 Claims
-
1. A cardiosaver system for indicating to a human subject that a myocardial infarction is occurring, the system comprising:
-
an implantable sensor for detecting the occurrence of a myocardial infarction, the implantable sensor being adapted for implantation within the human subject, the sensor also having an output electrical signal that is the electrogram that is generated by the heart of the human subject;
an implanted alarm means for informing the human subject that a myocardial infarction is occurring, the implanted alarm means being adapted for implantation within the human subject;
the implantable sensor and the implanted alarm means both being parts of a cardiosaver that is adapted for implantation into the human subject; and
the cardiosaver further comprising a radio transmitter that is adapted to transmit a radio signal to a close proximity alarm system which includes an external alarm means, the cardiosaver being adapted to simultaneously trigger the implanted alarm means within the human subject and activate the external alarm means within the close proximity alarm system when the cardsiosaver detects that the human subject is having a myocardial infarction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
- 24. A system adapted for implantation within a human subject for the treatment of disorders of the heart, the system comprising an implanted electronic device for detecting and treating disorders of the heart of the human subjects, the implanted electronic device being a combination of a heart pacemaker and a cardiosaver, the heart pacemaker having heart pacemaker electronics circuitry adapted for providing electrical pulses to pace the heart and the cardiosaver having cardiosaver electronics circuitry adapted for detecting the occurrence of a myocardial infarction, the cardiosaver also having alarm means for alarming the human subject when a myocardial infarction is occurring.
- 31. A system adapted for implantation within a human subject for the treatment of disorders of the heart, the system comprising an implanted electronic device for detecting and treating disorders of the heart of the human subject, the implanted electronic device being a combination of an implantable automatic heart defibrillator and a cardiosaver, the heart defibrillator having heart defibrillator electronics circuitry adapted for automatically providing a defibrillation electrical pulse to the heart when ventricular fibrillation is detected by the defibrillator electronics circuitry and the cardiosaver having cardiosaver electronics circuitry adapted for detecting the occurrence of a myocardial infarction, the cardiosaver also having alarm means for alarming the human subject when a myocardial infarction is occurring.
-
39. A method to inform certain human subjects that a myocardial infarction is occurring, the method comprising the following steps:
-
(a) test the human subject to determine if that subject has a fasting blood sugar that is greater than 140 mg/dl;
(b) determine if the human subject has any one or more of the following conditions;
a prior heart attack, a family history of heart disease, atherosclerosis, previous coronary bypass surgery or hypercholesterolemia;
(c) if the fasting blood sugar is greater than 140 mg/dl, and at least one of the conditions listed in (b) above exists, then implant within the human subject a cardiosaver system that is adapted to detect the occurrence of a myocardial infarction using an implanted sensor and electronics module which together are adapted to trigger an alarm that informs the human subject that a myocardial infarction is occurring.
-
Specification