Monitoring P-waves to detect degradation of atrial myocardium
First Claim
1. A method of monitoring electrical activity of a heart, comprising:
- receiving a signal that represents electrical activity within the heart of a patient via electrodes;
processing the signal to monitor dispersions of widths of P-waves;
determining whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases; and
distinguishing between medically significant changes in the heart based upon the determining whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases and providing an indication thereof.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An implantable medical device (IMD) monitors at least one characteristic of P-waves within an electrogram signal. By monitoring changes in the characteristic over time, the IMD detects degradation of the atrial myocardium. In some embodiments, the IMD detects ischemia, an increased probability of the occurrence of angina, or a risk of future atrial fibrillation based on changes in the characteristic over time. The IMD can include a memory to store information relating to the detection and other diagnostic information for retrieval and evaluation by a clinician, and/or an alarm to alert the patient of the detection. In some embodiments, the IMD switches out of an atrial-tracking ventricular pacing mode, decreases the maximum tracking rate for an atrial-tracking ventricular pacing mode, increases the aggressiveness of rate-responsive atrial pacing, and/or initiates or modifies delivery of a therapy, such as a drug or neurostimulation, in response to the identification.
43 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of monitoring electrical activity of a heart, comprising:
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receiving a signal that represents electrical activity within the heart of a patient via electrodes; processing the signal to monitor dispersions of widths of P-waves; determining whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases; and distinguishing between medically significant changes in the heart based upon the determining whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases and providing an indication thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An implantable medical device comprising:
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electrodes to detect a signal that represents electrical activity within a heart of a patient; and a processor to monitor dispersions of widths of P-waves, determine whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases, and distinguish between medically significant changes in the heart based upon the determination whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases and provide an indication thereof. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method, comprising:
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monitoring dispersions of widths of P-waves within a signal that represents electrical activity within a heart of a patient;
determining whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases; anddistinguishing between medically significant changes in the heart based upon the determining whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases and providing an indication thereof. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An implantable medical device system comprising:
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a therapy delivery device to deliver a therapy to a patient; and a monitoring device to monitor dispersions of widths of P-waves, determine whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases, and distinguish between medically significant changes in the heart based upon the determination whether increases in the monitored dispersions are one of long term increases and short term increases and provide an indication thereof, and control delivery of therapy by the therapy delivery device based on the indication of the medically significant change in the heart by the monitoring device. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification