Public access defibrillator
First Claim
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1. An external defibrillator that can be used to apply therapy to any patient, comprising:
- an electrode adapted to couple externally to the body of a patient;
a sense circuit coupled to said electrode to sense a physiological signal of the patient indicative of intrinsic cardiac activity;
a cardiac arrhythmia detector coupled to said sense circuit to detect a life threatening cardiac arrhythmia based on said physiological signal;
a microprocessor-based controller adapted to generate automatically a command in the presence of said cardiac arrhythmia; and
a therapy delivery circuit adapted to deliver electrical therapy pulses to said patient to correct said cardiac arrhythmia in response to said command, and a comparator adapted to compare said physiological signal to a threshold value, said threshold value being generic to cardiac patients.
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Abstract
A publically available external defibrillator includes a detector used to detect a life threatening condition of a patient, a controller operating the defibrillator automatically and a therapy delivery circuit that delivers appropriate therapy. The defibrillator is attached to a patient by any attendant or bystander and once it is attached, the defibrillator is adapted to monitor the patient and when a life threatening condition is detected, to apply therapy automatically, i.e., without any involvement by the patient or the attendant.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. An external defibrillator that can be used to apply therapy to any patient, comprising:
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an electrode adapted to couple externally to the body of a patient;
a sense circuit coupled to said electrode to sense a physiological signal of the patient indicative of intrinsic cardiac activity;
a cardiac arrhythmia detector coupled to said sense circuit to detect a life threatening cardiac arrhythmia based on said physiological signal;
a microprocessor-based controller adapted to generate automatically a command in the presence of said cardiac arrhythmia; and
a therapy delivery circuit adapted to deliver electrical therapy pulses to said patient to correct said cardiac arrhythmia in response to said command, and a comparator adapted to compare said physiological signal to a threshold value, said threshold value being generic to cardiac patients.
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2. An external defibrillator that can be used to apply therapy to any patient, comprising:
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an electrode adapted to couple externally to the body of a patient;
a sense circuit coupled to said electrode to sense a physiological signal of the patient indicative of intrinsic cardiac activity;
a cardiac arrhythmia detector coupled to said sense circuit to detect a life threatening cardiac arrhythmia based on said physiological signal a microprocessor-based controller adapted to generate automatically a command in the presence of said cardiac arrhythmia;
a therapy delivery circuit adapted to deliver electrical therapy pulses to said patient to correct said cardiac arrhythmia in response to said command, and wherein said sense circuit includes a signal detector adapted to detect a specific cardiac signal based on generic criteria.
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3. A publicly accessible external defibrillator for automatically generating a generic cardiac therapy for a person suffering from a life threatening cardiac condition, said external defibrillator comprising:
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a first electrode adapted to be attached to said patient;
a detector circuit coupled to said first electrode and adapted to detect a life threatening cardiac condition based on a physiological signal sensed through said electrode, said detector circuit detecting said cardiac condition using non-patient specific criteria;
a microprocessor-based controller coupled to said detector circuit and adapted to generate a command in the presence of said life threatening condition; and
a pulse generator adapted to generate therapeutic pulses selected to a pulse generator adapted to generate therapeutic pulses selected to terminate said life threatening cardiac condition in response to said command. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of providing public cardiac therapy to a patient suffering from a life threatening cardiac condition using an external defibrillator having an electrode, said method comprising the steps of:
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attaching said electrode to the patient to sense a physiological signal indicative of intrinsic cardiac signals;
detecting a life threatening condition based on said physiological condition automatically using a set of generic criteria; and
applying automatically therapeutic pulses in response to said life threatening condition to said patient;
wherein said step of detecting said life threatening cardiac condition includes detecting an intrinsic QRS complex and generating an R—
R interval based on successive QRS complexes, and wherein said step of detecting and said step of applying therapeutic pulses are performed without any involvement from an outside attendant.
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21. A method of providing public cardiac therapy to a patient suffering from a life threatening cardiac condition using an external defibrillator having an electrode, said method comprising the steps of:
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attaching said electrode to the patient to sense a physiological signal indicative of intrinsic cardiac signals;
performing a self-test on said external defibrillator after said electrode is attached to said patient to determine if said external defibrillator is operational;
detecting a life threatening condition based on said physiological condition automatically using a set of generic criteria; and
applying automatically therapeutic pulses in response to said life threatening condition to said patient;
wherein said step of detecting said life threatening cardiac condition and said step of applying therapeutic pulses are performed without any involvement from an outside attendant.
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22. A method of providing public cardiac therapy to a patient suffering from a life threatening cardiac condition using an external defibrillator having an electrode, said method comprising the steps of:
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attaching said electrode to the patient to sense a physiological signal indicative of intrinsic cardiac signals;
detecting a life threatening cardiac condition based on said physiological condition automatically using a set of generic criteria;
applying automatically therapeutic pulses in response to said life threatening condition to said patient;
said step of detecting said life threatening cardiac condition and said step of applying therapeutic pulses are performed without any involvement from an outside attendant; and
further applying data logging each episode of cardiac condition and the corresponding therapy.
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23. A method of providing public cardiac therapy to a patient suffering from a life threatening cardiac condition using an external defibrillator having an electrode, said method comprising the steps of:
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attaching said electrode to the patient to sense a physiological signal indicative of intrinsic cardiac signals;
detecting a life threatening cardiac condition based on said physiological condition automatically using a set of generic criteria; and
applying automatically therapeutic pulses in response to said life threatening condition to said patient;
said step of detecting said life threatening cardiac condition and said step of applying therapeutic pulses are performed without any involvement from an outside attendant;
wherein said defibrillator includes a communication module, further comprising generating a message to a remote location indicative of the condition of the patient and sending said message to said remote location using said communication module.
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24. A method of providing public cardiac therapy to a patient suffering from a life threatening cardiac condition using an external defibrillator having an electrode, said method comprising the steps of:
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attaching said electrode to the patient to sense a physiological signal indicative of intrinsic cardiac signals;
detecting a life threatening cardiac condition based on said physiological condition automatically using a set of generic criteria; and
applying automatically therapeutic pulses in response to said life threatening condition to said patient;
said step of detecting said life threatening cardiac condition and said step of applying therapeutic pulses are performed without any involvement from an outside attendant;
wherein said external defibrillator includes a display, further comprising providing on said display instructions for the operation of the defibrillator.
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Specification