System and method for facilitating rapid retrieval and evaluation of diagnostic data stored by an implantable medical device
First Claim
1. A method of facilitating the rapid examination of a patient that has an implanted medical device, the medical device storing a plurality of diagnostic data records which may be selectively retrieved by an external diagnostic system and displayed via a plurality of corresponding preformatted display screens of the diagnostic system, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) presenting a clinician with at least one menu screen to allow the clinician to specify at least (i) a set of diagnostic data records to be retrieved and displayed by the diagnostic system during a follow-up session with a patient, the set including at least two different diagnostic data records which correspond to at least two different display screens of the diagnostic system, and (ii) a viewing order for the display of the diagnostic data records of the set by the diagnostic system;
(b) recording the set and viewing order specified by the clinician in step (a) for subsequent use as at least a part of a custom follow-up protocol;
thereafter, in response to clinician initiation of the custom follow-up protocol;
(c) automatically retrieving the diagnostic data records of the set from the implanted medical device with the diagnostic system; and
(d) displaying the diagnostic data records of the set via corresponding display screens in the clinician-specified viewing order.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An implantable device programmer includes a variety of features for allowing a clinician to perform an automated and customized follow-up examination of a patient having an implanted cardiac implantable device, the implantable device being of the type which captures and stores various types of diagnostic data for subsequent retrieval and evaluation. A custom protocol feature of the programmer allows the clinician pre-specify and then semi-automatically follow an ordered sequence of protocol steps, each protocol step involving the interrogation of the implantable device and the display by the programmer of associated implantable device data (such as a heart rate histogram, or the results of a ventricular capture test). When the clinician initiates a custom protocol, the programmer automatically retrieves all of the diagnostic data records of the protocol in the protocol order. This automatic retrieval is performed in the background, allowing the clinician to begin viewing the initial diagnostic data records of the protocol while the other items are being retrieved. Via a user interface of the programmer, the clinician can rapidly and efficiently sequence through the data display screens associated with the protocol, to thereby view the various diagnostic data records and/or perform the various diagnostic tests of the protocol.
260 Citations
72 Claims
-
1. A method of facilitating the rapid examination of a patient that has an implanted medical device, the medical device storing a plurality of diagnostic data records which may be selectively retrieved by an external diagnostic system and displayed via a plurality of corresponding preformatted display screens of the diagnostic system, the method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) presenting a clinician with at least one menu screen to allow the clinician to specify at least (i) a set of diagnostic data records to be retrieved and displayed by the diagnostic system during a follow-up session with a patient, the set including at least two different diagnostic data records which correspond to at least two different display screens of the diagnostic system, and (ii) a viewing order for the display of the diagnostic data records of the set by the diagnostic system; (b) recording the set and viewing order specified by the clinician in step (a) for subsequent use as at least a part of a custom follow-up protocol; thereafter, in response to clinician initiation of the custom follow-up protocol; (c) automatically retrieving the diagnostic data records of the set from the implanted medical device with the diagnostic system; and (d) displaying the diagnostic data records of the set via corresponding display screens in the clinician-specified viewing order. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method of enabling a clinician to perform a customized examination of a patient that has an implanted medical device, the medical device storing diagnostic data records which can be retrieved by an external diagnostic system and displayed on a display monitor of the diagnostic system via corresponding preformatted display screens, the method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) presenting the clinician with at least one menu screen which allows the clinician to specify a custom protocol via a user interface of the diagnostic system, the custom protocol including a clinician-specified plurality of display screens to be displayed by the diagnostic system during sessions with the patient and with other patients, and including a clinician-specified viewing order for the display by the diagnostic system of the plurality of display screens, at least some of the plurality of display screens corresponding to respective diagnostic data records stored within the medical device; (b) recording the custom protocol for subsequent use; thereafter, in response to initiation by the clinician of the custom protocol during a session with the patient; (c) automatically retrieving from the implanted medical device a plurality of diagnostic data records which correspond to the plurality of display screens, the step of automatically retrieving requiring no user interaction with the diagnostic system; and (d) displaying the plurality of diagnostic data records on the monitor via the plurality of display screens in the viewing order of the custom protocol, the step of displaying comprising presenting the clinician with an input button which, when selected by the clinician, causes a next sequential display screen of the custom protocol to be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method of facilitating an examination by a clinician of a patient that has an implanted medical device, the medical device storing diagnostic data which may be retrieved by an external diagnostic system and displayed on a screen of the diagnostic system, the method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) enabling the clinician, via a user interface of the diagnostic system, to specify a plurality of protocol steps to be performed during an examination session with a patient, and to specify an order for performing the plurality of protocol steps, each of the protocol steps including at least (i) an interrogation of the implanted medical device with the diagnostic system, and (ii) a display of data associated with the interrogation to the clinician by the diagnostic system; (b) recording the plurality of protocol steps specified by the clinician in step (a) for subsequent use as a custom examination protocol or a portion thereof; and (c) in response to clinician initiation of the custom examination protocol via the user interface, automatically performing the protocol steps of the custom protocol in the clinician-specified order. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. A diagnostic system for facilitating a customized examination of a patient having an implanted medical device, the implanted medical device storing diagnostic data which is retrieved and displayed by the diagnostic system during the examination of the patient, the diagnostic system comprising:
-
a computer processor operatively coupled to a memory and a display monitor; telemetry circuitry operatively coupled to the computer processor, the telemetry circuitry enabling the computer processor to communicate with the implanted device over a wireless telemetry link; and diagnostic software stored in the memory, the diagnostic software including; (a) custom protocol definition software for allowing clinicians to define and record custom examination protocols, the custom protocol definition software configured to display a plurality of available follow-up examination steps that correspond to the implantable medical device, and to allow a clinician to define a custom examination protocol which comprises (i) a clinician-specified subset of the plurality of available examination steps, and (ii) a clinician-specified order for performing the examination steps of the subset; and (b) protocol execution software which, in response to clinician initiation of the custom examination protocol, (i) automatically retrieves diagnostic data corresponding to the clinician-specified subset from the implanted medical device, and (ii) displays a plurality of display screens on the display monitor in a viewing order which corresponds to the clinician-specified order. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
-
-
48. A method of facilitating the rapid examination of a patient that has an implanted medical device, the implanted medical device storing diagnostic data records which may be retrieved and displayed by an external diagnostic system, the method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) presenting a clinician with at least one menu screen of a graphical user interface of the diagnostic system to allow the clinician to select a pre-specified examination protocol, the examination protocol specifying at least an order for the retrieval of the plurality of diagnostic data records from the implanted medical device; (b) successively retrieving the plurality of diagnostic data records from the implanted medical device into the diagnostic system in the order specified by the examination protocol without requiring clinician intervention, the step of successively retrieving comprising successively interrogating the implanted medical device with the diagnostic system to specify diagnostic data records to be retrieved; and (c) concurrently with step (b), allowing the clinician to view the diagnostic data records that have been retrieved in step (b) on a screen of the diagnostic system while the diagnostic system continues to retrieve the remaining diagnostic data records of the plurality; whereby the method enables the clinician to begin evaluation of some diagnostic data records while other diagnostic data records are being retrieved in the background by the diagnostic system. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
-
-
57. A diagnostic system for allowing a clinician to rapidly conduct an examination of a patient having an implanted medical device, the implanted medical device storing a plurality of diagnostic data records which may be selectively retrieved and displayed by the diagnostic system, the diagnostic system comprising:
-
a computer processor operatively coupled to a memory and a display monitor; telemetry circuitry operatively coupled to the computer processor, the telemetry circuitry enabling the computer processor to communicate with the implanted medical device over a wireless telemetry link; an examination protocol specification stored within the memory, the examination protocol comprising a plurality of data retrieval steps for the retrieval of respective diagnostic data records from the implanted device, the examination protocol further comprising a viewing order for the display of the diagnostic data records on the display monitor; data retrieval software stored within the memory, the data retrieval software configured to automatically retrieve the diagnostic data records of the examination protocol; and protocol display software stored within the memory, the protocol display software configured to display the diagnostic data records retrieved by the data retrieval software in the viewing order of the examination protocol. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
-
-
65. A user interface for facilitating the rapid, customized viewing of diagnostic data records retrieved from an implanted medical device by a diagnostic system, the diagnostic system including a display monitor for the display of the diagnostic data records, the user interface implemented by executable code stored on a computer readable medium, the user interface comprising:
-
a plurality of preformatted data display screens which correspond to a plurality of protocol steps, at least some of the plurality of protocol steps comprising a retrieval and display by the diagnostic system of respective diagnostic data records stored by the implanted medical device; and at least one customization screen which allows a clinician to pre-specify at least a viewing order for the display by the diagnostic system of the plurality of preformatted data display screens. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69)
-
-
70. A software architecture for facilitating the rapid and efficient examination of a patient that has an implanted medical device, the medical device storing diagnostic data records which can selectively be retrieved and viewed using an external diagnostic system, the diagnostic system communicating with the implanted device over a telemetry channel, the architecture including:
-
application-level software stored on a computer-readable medium, the application-level software permitting a clinician to initiate a background interrogation operation in which the diagnostic system automatically retrieves and buffers at least a pre-specified plurality of the diagnostic data records for subsequent viewing by the clinician, the application-level software also permitting the clinician to initiate a foreground operation in which the diagnostic system retrieves and displays a clinician-specified diagnostic data record; and telemetry software stored on the computer-readable medium, the telemetry software configured to retrieve diagnostic data items from the implanted device into a memory of the diagnostic system in response to clinician initiation of background interrogation operations and foreground operations, the telemetry software implementing a telemetry channel contention protocol, the contention protocol giving priority to pending foreground operations over ongoing background interrogation operations so that foreground operations are performed immediately from the perspective of the clinician. - View Dependent Claims (71, 72)
-
Specification