Leadless tissue stimulation systems and methods
First Claim
1. A method for stimulating cardiac tissue, said method comprising:
- placing a pacing lead to be in contact with a heart of a patient at a first cardiac stimulation site on a right side of the heart,implanting a leadless receiver-stimulator at a second cardiac stimulation site in a left ventricle of the heart,connecting the pacing lead to an external pacemaker,generating an electrical pacing pulse from the external pacemaker and applying the electrical pacing pulse to the pacing lead, wherein said electrical pacing pulse delivers cardiac stimulation energy to the first cardiac stimulation site,detecting the electrical pacing pulse using an externally located acoustic energy generator;
upon detecting the pacing pulse, generating acoustic energy using the externally located acoustic energy generator that is coupled to the patient; and
receiving said acoustic energy by the leadless receiver stimulator at the second cardiac stimulation site, wherein said acoustic energy is converted into cardiac stimulation energy based on both energy and signal information included in the generated acoustic energy.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems including an implantable receiver-stimulator and an external controller-transmitter system are used for leadless acute stimulation of the heart, particularly after heart surgery. Cardiac pacing and arrhythmia control is accomplished with one or more implantable receiver-stimulators and an external system that alternatively includes the use of an external pacemaker. Receiver-stimulators are implanted in the heart during surgery or during an acute interventional procedure and then a triggered for stimulation by using the external system. In one embodiment of these systems, a controller-transmitter is activated by an external pacemaker to time the delivery of acoustic energy transmission through the body to a receiver-stimulator at a target tissue location. The receiver-stimulator converts the acoustic energy to electrical energy for electrical stimulation of the heart tissue.
337 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A method for stimulating cardiac tissue, said method comprising:
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placing a pacing lead to be in contact with a heart of a patient at a first cardiac stimulation site on a right side of the heart, implanting a leadless receiver-stimulator at a second cardiac stimulation site in a left ventricle of the heart, connecting the pacing lead to an external pacemaker, generating an electrical pacing pulse from the external pacemaker and applying the electrical pacing pulse to the pacing lead, wherein said electrical pacing pulse delivers cardiac stimulation energy to the first cardiac stimulation site, detecting the electrical pacing pulse using an externally located acoustic energy generator; upon detecting the pacing pulse, generating acoustic energy using the externally located acoustic energy generator that is coupled to the patient; and receiving said acoustic energy by the leadless receiver stimulator at the second cardiac stimulation site, wherein said acoustic energy is converted into cardiac stimulation energy based on both energy and signal information included in the generated acoustic energy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for stimulating cardiac tissue, said system comprising:
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an external pacemaker and one or more temporary pacing leads having an electrode assembly adapted to be in direct contact with cardiac tissue on a right side of a heart wherein the external pacemaker is adapted to sense cardiac activity using the pacing leads and deliver electrical pacing pulse energy sufficient to stimulate the cardiac tissue using the pacing lead; an external acoustic controller-transmitter adapted to be connected to one or more of the pacing leads and to detect pacing level electrical signals on the pacing leads; and an implantable leadless acoustic receiver-stimulator having an electrode assembly adapted to be in direct contact with cardiac tissue in a left ventricle of the heart, wherein the controller-transmitter is adapted to transmit acoustic energy, wherein the acoustic energy is transmitted upon detecting the pacing level electrical signal by the external acoustic controller-transmitter and the receiver-stimulator is adapted to receive acoustic energy, wherein the transmission from the controller-transmitter contains energy and signal information sufficient to stimulate said cardiac tissue. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method for stimulating cardiac tissue, said method comprising:
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generating acoustic energy at an external site on a patient synchronously with detecting a pacing pulse or electrical activity delivered to a right side of a patient'"'"'s heart; receiving said acoustic energy at a cardiac stimulation site, wherein said acoustic energy is converted into cardiac stimulation energy based on both energy and signal information included in the generated acoustic energy; and using the cardiac stimulation energy for stimulation or pacing at the cardiac stimulation site by a leadless receiver stimulator implanted in a left ventricle of the patient'"'"'s heart. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification