Acoustic physiological sensor
First Claim
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1. An apparatus comprising:
- an implantable transducer; and
a physiological sensor that includes at least one biocompatible body, the body sized and shaped to be implanted into and within a myocardial wall of a subject, at least a portion of the body including a material having at least one physical property that changes in response to a physiological condition of the subject, wherein the change in the at least one physical property is responsive to at least one of a change in pH or a change in an ion concentration, wherein the portion of the body is sized and shaped such that the change in the physical property is chronically detectable using acoustic energy supplied by the implantable transducer to provide an indication of the physiological condition.
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Abstract
This document describes, among other things, a body having at least one acoustically detectable property that changes in response to a change in a physiological condition, such as ischemia. The body is positioned with respect to a desired tissue region. At least one acoustic transducer is used to acoustically detect a change in physical property. In one example, the body is pH sensitive and/or ion selective. A shape or dimension of the body changes in response to pH and/or ionic concentration changes resulting from a change in an ischemia state. An indication of the physiological condition is provided to a user.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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an implantable transducer; and a physiological sensor that includes at least one biocompatible body, the body sized and shaped to be implanted into and within a myocardial wall of a subject, at least a portion of the body including a material having at least one physical property that changes in response to a physiological condition of the subject, wherein the change in the at least one physical property is responsive to at least one of a change in pH or a change in an ion concentration, wherein the portion of the body is sized and shaped such that the change in the physical property is chronically detectable using acoustic energy supplied by the implantable transducer to provide an indication of the physiological condition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system comprising:
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a plurality of biocompatible spheres, each sphere sized and shaped to be introduced into and within a myocardial wall of a subject, each sphere including at least one physical property that changes in response to a physiological condition of the subject, the at least one physical property being responsive to at least one of a change in pH or a change in an ion concentration; an implantable acoustic transmitter, to provide energy to the spheres and the myocardium; and an acoustic receiver, to receive energy from at least one of the spheres and the myocardium, wherein the change in the at least one physical property is chronically detectable using the energy to provide an indication of the physiological condition. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. A method comprising:
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introducing a physiological sensor into and within a myocardial wall of a subject, the physiological sensor includes at least one body having at least one physical property that changes in response to at least one of a change in pH or a change in an ion concentration; transmitting acoustic energy to the body and the myocardium, the acoustic energy transmitted using an implantable transducer; receiving transmitted acoustic energy for detecting the change in the physical property of the body; and detecting and providing an indication of the physiological change by chronically detecting the change in the physical property of the body. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A system comprising:
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a physiological sensor that includes one or more biocompatible bodies, the one or more bodies sized and shaped to be implanted into and within a myocardial wall of a subject, at least a portion of the one or more bodies including a material having at least one physical property that changes in response to a physiological condition of the subject, wherein the change in the at least one physical property is responsive to at least one of a change in pH or a change in an ion concentration, and wherein the at least a portion of the one or more bodies is sized and shaped such that the change in the physical property is chronically detectable using acoustic energy to provide an indication of the physiological condition; and an implantable medical device, including one or more acoustic transducers configured to provide acoustic energy to the one or more bodies and to receive responsive acoustic energy, the implantable medical device configured to detect and provide an indication of a change in the physiological condition by using the responsive acoustic energy to detect the change in the physical property of the one or more bodies. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification