Implantable sensor with wireless communication

• US 6,409,674 B1
• Filed: 09/24/1998
• Issued: 06/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Pacesetter Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Data Sciences U K Limited (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Brockway, Brian P., Zwiers, Lynn M., Mills, Perry Alton
• Primary Examiner(s): Nasser, Robert L.
• Application Number:
  US09/159,653
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: 600/485, 600/486, 600/561, 407/19, 407/22, 407/23
• US Class Current: 600/486
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0028 Body tissue as transmission medium, i.e. transmission systems where the medium is the human body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0031 Implanted circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0215 by means inserted into the body catheters A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6882 Anchoring means
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37205 Microstimulators, e.g. implantable through a cannula

Abstract

An implantable sensor device, such as a pressure monitor, is implanted in the left ventricle (LV), in other heart chambers, or elsewhere, from which it wirelessly communicates pressure information to a remote communication device. The sensor device can be implanted using a placement catheter, an endoscope, or a laparoscope. The device can be secured entirely within the LV or heart wall, such as by using a corkscrew, a helical anchor, a harpoon, a threaded member, a hook, a barb, a fastener, a suture, or a mesh or coating for receiving fibrous tissue growth. The implantable sensor device provides less invasive chronic measurements of left ventricular blood pressure or other physical parameters. The wireless communication techniques include radio-telemetry, inductive coupling, passive transponders, and using the body as a conductor (referred to as “intracorporeal conductive communication” or a “personal area network”). Data from the receiver is downloadable into a computer for analysis or display.

Claims

1. An apparatus for measuring a blood pressure in a heart chamber in a heart in a living organism, the apparatus comprising:

a housing adapted for being disposed in the heart;

a pressure transducer, adapted for being disposed in the heart, the pressure transducer providing a pressure signal based on the blood pressure in the heart chamber;

a wireless communication circuit, carried by the housing and coupled to the pressure transducer, the communication circuit wirelessly transmitting pressure information out of the heart based on the pressure signal;

at least one stabilizer, coupled to the housing, and adapted for stabilizing the housing within the heart; and

a pressure transmission catheter adapted for receiving the pressure in the heart chamber, the pressure transmission catheter being coupled to the pressure transducer via a flowable medium to communicate the pressure in the heart chamber to the pressure transducer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the pressure transmission catheter includes a biocompatible gel-like tip that is adapted to receive the pressure in the heart chamber.

3. A method of sensing a parameter in a heart chamber in a heart in a living organism, the method comprising:

receiving a physical manifestation of the parameter in the heart chamber at a sensor device disposed within the heart;

converting, within the heart, the physical manifestation of the parameter into a sensor signal; and

generating a wireless signal based on the sensor signal, the wireless signal generated within the heart.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising translumenally disposing the sensor device in the heart.

5. The method of claim 3, in which communicating information includes radio-telemetering the information from the heart.

6. The method of claim 3, in which communicating information includes inductively coupling the information from the heart.

7. The method of claim 3, in which communicating information includes:

receiving energy at a passive transponder in the heart;

powering the passive transponder from the energy received; and

transmitting information from the heart using the powered passive transponder.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving energy; and

recharging a battery located in the heart using the energy received.

9. The method of claim 3, in which communicating information includes:

conducting a current through at least a portion of the living organism; and

receiving, at a receiver that is outside the heart, a signal that is based on the current.

10. The method of claim 3, in which communicating information includes:

conducting a current through at least a portion of the living organism; and

receiving, at a receiver that is external to the living organism, a signal that is based on the current.

11. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving the information at a receiver that is carried by an implantable medical device located within the living organism.

12. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving the information at a receiver that is external to the living organism; and

storing the information in a memory in the receiver.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising transferring the information from the receiver to a computer.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising analyzing the information in the computer.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying to a user an indicator based on the information.

16. The method of claim 3, in which the heart chamber is selected from a group consisting essentially of a right atrium, a right ventricle, a left atrium, and a left ventricle.

17. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving the information at a receiver that is carried by an cardiac rhythm management device located within the living organism.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising adjusting therapy delivered to the heart by the cardiac rhythm management device, wherein adjusting therapy is based on the sensor signal wirelessly communicated from the heart.

19. A method of measuring blood pressure in a heart chamber in a heart in a living organism, the method comprising:

receiving the blood pressure in the heart at a pressure transducer device;

transducing, within the heart, the blood pressure in the heart chamber into a pressure signal; and

generating a wireless signal based on the pressure signal, the wireless signal generated within the heart.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising translumenally disposing the pressure transducer device in the heart via a placement catheter.

21. The method of claim 19, in which receiving the blood pressure includes communicating the blood pressure from the heart to the pressure transducer via a flowable medium.

22. The method of claim 21, in which receiving the blood pressure includes receiving the blood pressure at a distal end of a pressure transmission catheter and transmitting the blood pressure from the heart to the pressure transducer via a flowable medium within the pressure transmission catheter.

23. The method of claim 22, in which transducing the pressure includes:

receiving the blood pressure at the pressure transducer from the flowable medium within the pressure transmission catheter;

varying at least one resistance in the pressure transducer based on the received pressure; and

providing a resulting electrical signal, which includes pressure information based on the varying resistance of the pressure transducer.

24. The method of claim 19, in which communicating pressure information includes radio-telemetering the pressure information from the heart.

25. The method of claim 19, in which communicating pressure information includes inductively coupling the pressure information from the heart.

26. The method of claim 19, in which communicating pressure information includes:

receiving energy at a passive transponder;

powering the passive transponder from the received energy; and

transmitting pressure information from the heart using the powered passive transponder.

27. The method of claim 19, in which communicating pressure information includes:

conducting a current through at least a portion of the heart; and

receiving, at a receiver that is outside the heart, a signal that is based on the current.

28. The method of claim 19, which communicating pressure information includes:

conducting a current through at least a portion of the heart; and

receiving, at a receiver that is external to the living organism, a signal that is based on the current.

29. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

translumenally disposing a pressure transducer device within the heart; and

stabilizing the pressure transducer device within the heart.

30. The method of claim 29, in which stabilizing the pressure transducer device includes securing the pressure transducer device to the heart.

31. The method of claim 30, in which securing the pressure transducer to the heart includes implanting the pressure transducer substantially within a wall of the heart.

32. The method of claim 19, in which the heart chamber is selected from a group consisting essentially of a right atrium, a right ventricle, a left atrium, and a left ventricle.

33. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving the wirelessly communicated blood pressure information at a cardiac rhythm management device; and

adjusting therapy delivered to the heart by the cardiac rhythm management device based on the wirelessly communicated blood pressure information.