Obstructive sleep apnea treatment devices, systems and methods

• US 8,718,783 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2011
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cyberonics, Inc
• Original Assignee: Cyberonics, Inc
• Inventors: Bolea, Stephen L., Hoegh, Thomas B., Persson, Bruce J., Atkinson, Robert E., Mazar, Scott T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Layno, Carl H
• Assistant Examiner(s): ANTHONY, JESSICA LYNN
• Application Number:
  US13/327,351
• Publication Number:
  US 20120089199A1
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: 607/42, 607/48, 600/529
• US Class Current: 607/48
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0809 by impedance pneumography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4818 Sleep apnoea
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7239 using differentiation including higher order derivatives
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0556 Cuff electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0558 Anchoring or fixation means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3601 of respiratory organs
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3606 adapted for a particular treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37229 Shape or location of the implanted or external antenna

Abstract

A method of stimulating a hypogossal nerve including chronically implanting a nerve cuff electrode on a portion of the hypoglossal nerve. The method may further include sensing a signal corresponding to respiration and detecting expiratory onset from the sensed signal. Moreover, the method may include delivering a stimulus to the portion of the hypoglossal nerve via the nerve cuff electrode, wherein the stimulus is delivered as a function of the detected expiratory onset.

Claims

1. A method of stimulating a hypoglossal nerve comprising:

chronically implanting a nerve cuff electrode on a portion of the hypoglossal nerve;

sensing a signal corresponding to respiration;

detecting one or more expiratory onsets from the sensed signal;

calculating a future inspiratory onset from the detected one or more expiratory onsets; and

delivering a stimulus to the portion of the hypoglossal nerve via the nerve cuff electrode, wherein the stimulus delivery begins a predetermined amount of time prior to the calculated future inspiratory onset.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the sensed signal is a bio-impedance signal.

3. A method as in claim 1, wherein a stimulus trigger time is predicted based on historical respiratory data.

4. A method as in claim 3, wherein the stimulus trigger time is predicted for a future respiratory cycle using respiratory data from a previous respiratory cycle and a current respiratory cycle.

5. A method as in claim 4, wherein the respiratory data comprises expiratory onset.

6. A method as in claim 5, wherein respiratory data from the previous and the current respiratory cycles are weighted differently.

7. A method as in claim 6, wherein respiratory data from the current respiratory cycle is weighted negatively relative to data from the previous respiratory cycle.

8. A method as in claim 1, wherein stimulus is delivered without identifying inspiratory onset from the sensed signal.

9. A method as in claim 8, wherein the stimulus is delivered approximately 300 ms before the predicted inspiratory onset.

10. A method as in claim 1, wherein the portion of the hypoglossal nerve corresponds to a portion innervating a genioglossus muscle of the patient.

11. A method as in claim 1, wherein the nerve cuff electrode includes an electrode contact arrangement configured for selectively activating only one of the superior, inferior, lateral, and medial fascicles of the hypoglossal nerve.

12. A method as in claim 1, wherein the method does not include detecting inspiration onset.

13. A device for stimulating a hypoglossal nerve, comprising:

a neurostimulator for generating an electrical stimulus signal;

a lead connected to the neurostimulator, the lead having a nerve cuff electrode for delivering the electrical stimulus to a portion of the hypoglossal nerve; and

an algorithm contained in the neurostimulator, wherein the algorithm is configured to begin stimulus delivery a predetermined amount of time prior to a predicted future inspiratory onset, wherein the predicted future inspiratory onset is calculated from one or more expiratory onsets detected from a sensed respiratory signal.

14. A device as in claim 13, wherein the sensed respiratory signal is bio-impedance.

15. A device as in claim 14, further comprising a sensor for sensing bio-impedance.

16. A device as in claim 13, wherein the algorithm predicts a stimulation trigger time based on historical respiratory data.

17. A device as in claim 16, wherein the algorithm predicts the stimulation trigger time for a future respiratory cycle using respiratory data from previous and current respiratory cycles.

18. A device as in claim 17, wherein the algorithm is configured to predict the future inspiratory onset without identifying an inspiratory onset of the sensed respiratory signal.

19. A device as in claim 18, wherein the algorithm applies differing weights to the data from the previous and current respiratory cycles.

20. A device as in claim 19, wherein the algorithm applies a negative weight to data from the current respiratory cycle relative to data from the previous respiratory cycle.

21. A device as in claim 13, wherein the algorithm is configured to trigger stimulation without detecting inspiration onset.