Gastrointestinal electrical therapy
First Claim
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1. A method for treating a human patient, comprising:
- implanting one or more electrode contact surfaces in contact with a fundus of the patient;
providing a control unit coupled to the electrode contact surfaces; and
activating the control unit to drive the electrode contact surfaces to apply an electrical signal to at least one fundic site of the patient that chronically improves a blood glucose level of the patient, in order to treat the patient, (a) without sensing eating by the patient, and (b) without detecting a characteristic of food eaten by the patient by calculating an impedance of tissue of the fundus based on a sensed parameter that varies in response to the electrical signal.
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Abstract
Apparatus (18) for treating a human patient, which includes one or more electrode contact surfaces (100), which are configured to be applied to a fundus (22) of the patient. A control unit (90) is configured to drive the one or more electrode contact surfaces (100) to apply an electrical signal to the fundus (22) that chronically improves a blood glucose level of the patient, in order to treat the patient, without calculating an impedance of tissue of the fundus (22) based on a sensed parameter that varies in response to the electrical signal, for detecting eating by the patient or a characteristic of food eaten by the patient. Other embodiments are also described.
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Citations
66 Claims
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1. A method for treating a human patient, comprising:
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implanting one or more electrode contact surfaces in contact with a fundus of the patient; providing a control unit coupled to the electrode contact surfaces; and activating the control unit to drive the electrode contact surfaces to apply an electrical signal to at least one fundic site of the patient that chronically improves a blood glucose level of the patient, in order to treat the patient, (a) without sensing eating by the patient, and (b) without detecting a characteristic of food eaten by the patient by calculating an impedance of tissue of the fundus based on a sensed parameter that varies in response to the electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for treating a human patient, comprising:
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identifying that the patient might experience a chronic improvement in a blood glucose level in response to application of an electrical signal to at least one fundic site of the patient; and in response to identifying; implanting one or more electrode contact surfaces in contact with a fundus of the patient; providing a control unit coupled to the electrode contact surfaces; and activating the control unit to drive the electrode contact surfaces to apply the electrical signal to the at least one fundic site of the patient that chronically improves the blood glucose level of the patient, in order to treat the patient, without sensing eating by the patient. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 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, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A method for treating a human patient, comprising:
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identifying that the patient might experience a chronic improvement in a blood glucose level in response to application of an electrical signal to at least one fundic site of the patient; and in response to identifying; implanting one or more electrode contact surfaces in contact with a fundus of the patient; providing a control unit coupled to the electrode contact surfaces; and activating the control unit to drive the electrode contact surfaces to apply the electrical signal to the at least one fundic site of the patient that chronically improves the blood glucose level of the patient, in order to treat the patient, wherein activating comprises configuring the control unit to (a) apply the signal in a series of pulses, at least one of which pulses has a duration of no more than 5 milliseconds, and (b) configure the pulses to have an average energy per pulse of no more than 50 microjoules. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. A method for treating a human patient, comprising;
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implanting one or more electrode contact surfaces in contact with a fundus of the patient; providing a control unit coupled to the electrode contact surfaces; and activating the control unit to drive the electrode contact surfaces to apply an electrical signal, as a plurality of pulses, to at least one fluidic site of the patient that chronically improves a blood glucose level of the patient, in order to treat the patient, (a) without detecting eating by the patient by calculating impedance of tissue of the fundus based on a sensed parameter that varies in response to the electrical signal, and (b) without detecting a characteristic of food eaten by the patient by calculating impedance of tissue of the fundus based on a sensed parameter that varies in response to the electrical signal, wherein one or more of the pulses have a pulse width of no more than 5 milliseconds. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A method for treating a human patient, comprising:
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identifying that the patient might experience a chronic improvement in a blood glucose level in response to application of an electrical signal to at least one fundic site of the patient; and in response to identifying; implanting one or more electrode contact surfaces in contact with a fundus of the patient; providing a control unit coupled to the electrode contact surfaces; and activating the control unit to drive the electrode contact surfaces to apply the electrical signal to the at least one fundic site of the patient that chronically improves the blood glucose level of the patient, in order to treat the patient, wherein activating the control unit comprises (a) configuring the control unit to apply the signal in series of pulses, at least one of which pulses has a duration of no more than 5 milliseconds, and (b) activating the control unit to drive the one or more electrode contact surfaces using no more than 5 J over a 24-hour period. - View Dependent Claims (66)
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Specification