Ambulatory cardiac diagnostic units having means for inhibiting pacemaker response
First Claim
1. An ambulatory cardiac diagnostic unit comprising pacing means for pacing the heart, sensing means for sensing electrical activity of the heart, detection means connected to said sensing means for monitoring data outputted by the sensing means which is representative of the electrical activity of the heart and for detecting from said data the occurrence of a heart malfunction, recording means connected to the sensing means and the detection means for recording, in response to detection of a heart malfunction, said data over a cardiac event monitoring period which includes periods both before and after detection of the heart malfunction, and control means for (a) controlling recording by said recording means of said data over said cardiac event monitoring period, and (b) controlling said pacing means so as to inhibit pacing of the heart following detection of a heart malfunction and until recording of said data over said cardiac event monitoring period has been completed by said recording means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The diagnostic unit 1 consists of a microprocessor-based control section 5, a data memory 6 and a pacemaker 7. The control section 5 monitors heart action using the intracardiac electrogram and a second signal representative of intracardiac pressure. It detects events of interest to clinicians including bradycardia, tachycardia, cardiac pauses, pressure pauses, interference and pacing pauses, and records the numbers of each type of event. Selective recordings of the waveforms of the sensed signals are made in memory within the unit whenever an event of interest is detected. The unit is worn by the patient for periods of up to three weeks, and the parameters of the events to be sensed can be programmed into the unit by the clinician using a computer 4. The same computer 4 is used to extract and display the recorded data.
308 Citations
10 Claims
- 1. An ambulatory cardiac diagnostic unit comprising pacing means for pacing the heart, sensing means for sensing electrical activity of the heart, detection means connected to said sensing means for monitoring data outputted by the sensing means which is representative of the electrical activity of the heart and for detecting from said data the occurrence of a heart malfunction, recording means connected to the sensing means and the detection means for recording, in response to detection of a heart malfunction, said data over a cardiac event monitoring period which includes periods both before and after detection of the heart malfunction, and control means for (a) controlling recording by said recording means of said data over said cardiac event monitoring period, and (b) controlling said pacing means so as to inhibit pacing of the heart following detection of a heart malfunction and until recording of said data over said cardiac event monitoring period has been completed by said recording means.
Specification