Hand-held surface ECG and RF apparatus incorporated with a medical device

• US 20020095093A1
• Filed: 03/29/2001
• Published: 07/18/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Crowley, Thomas, Tal, Elisha, Powell, Richard M., Oakley, Nick, Perry Pool, Nancy, Karshmer, David, Brecht, Mark, Au, Nelson, Nelson, Chester G., Buchenau, Marion, Pearce, Edwin M. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 6,748,260 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/509
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0468 Built-in electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/332 Portable devices specially adapted therefor

Abstract

A hand-holdable structure implementing electrodes to enable good skin-electrode contact to acquire ECG readings is disclosed. Specifically, the structure is shaped to enable patients to apply a simple gentle grip to have a reliable skin-electrode contact and to automatically commence ECG tracing transmission to a patient monitoring station. In one embodiment the structure incorporates an RF telemetry head to simultaneously transfer IMD stored data in conjunction with the ECG tracings. The structure independently or in combination with the RF telemetry head is adaptable to a system of data communications with a programmer or equivalent instrument to transfer ECG and IMD data to a remotely located physician station or patient data storage server. The system is also adaptable for use with a web-enabled network such as, without limitation, the Internet, intranet, World Wide Web, extranet or equivalent.

Claims

1. A hand-holdable device to establish reliable skin-electrode contact for physiological signal acquisition, the hand-holdable device comprising:

a first structure with at least one electrode shaped to be easily graspable to establish said skin-electrode contact in one hand;

a second structure with at least one electrode shaped to be easily graspable to establish said skin-electrode contact in another hand; and

a telemetry unit having operable data communications link with said first and said second structure,

said first structure being connected to said second structure wherein the physiological signal created across said first and said second structures is transmitted to said telemetry unit via said data communication link.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said first and second structure include a substantially ovoid shape conforming to a human grasp.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein a headless RF telemetry is incorporated in one of said first and second structures to uplink to an IMD.

4. The device of claim 2 wherein said at least one electrode is shaped to conform to said ovoid shape.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein said at least one electrode substantially covers major surfaces of said ovoid shape.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein said telemetry unit includes a communication link to transmit medical data collected by said device to one of and all of a programmer, a PC, a remote station, a data server.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein said medical data includes medical data collected from at least one IMD in a patient using said device.

8. A hand-held surface ECG and RF system for detecting cardiac depolarizations for remote monitoring of ECGs from a patient with an IMD, the system comprising:

a structure shaped to conform to a grasp of the patient;

electrodes incorporated in the said structures to enable reliable skin-electrode contact at said grasp of the patient;

a data communication link between said structure and said RF system to enable transmission of ECG tracing from the structure.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein said structure includes substantially ovoid shapes forming a first end and second end rigidly spread apart by a connecting member.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said connecting member includes means for routing a data communications cable between said first end and said second end.