Transvenous intracardiac pacing catheter

A self-positioning, quick-deployment low profile transvenous electrode system for pacing of a heart with a pacemaker, comprising:

• a plurality of insulated electrical wires bundled together to form a distal set of three (3) ventricle leads disposed within a first inner sheath, and a proximal set of four (4) atrium leads disposed within a second inner sheath, the first inner sheath and the second inner sheath disposed within an outer steerable catheter sheath,
• said outer steerable catheter sheath being movable from said first inner sheath and said second inner sheath once inserted into the heart for deploying the first inner sheath to the ventricle and the second inner sheath to the atrium, said outer steerable catheter sheath being entirely removed from the atrium and ventricle when the transvenous electrode system is engaged,
• said first inner sheath being movable to expose the distal set of three (3) ventricle leads to the ventricle, and said second inner sheath being movable to expose the four (4) atrium leads to the atrium, the first inner sheath and the second inner sheath each made from a polymer, wherein the polymer is doped with a radiopaque material to form a radiopaque polymer sheath or is labelled with at least one radiopaque marker element,
• each of the ventricular and atrial leads have a proximal body portion, a distal end portion, and a tip portion,
• the proximal body portion made from a radiopaque polymer-covered copper wire,
• the distal end portion made from shape memory material, the shape memory material selected from stainless steel, spring steel, cobalt-chromium alloy, nickel-titanium alloy, and mixtures thereof, the tip portion made from shape memory material and a radiopaque material, the radiopaque material selected from a barium-containing compound, a bismuth-containing compound, a steel compound, a tungsten-containing compound, and mixtures thereof,
• two of the three ventricle leads are shape-set at a 90 degree angle in an expanded configuration, and the two ventricle leads are offset 180 degrees from each other, one of the three ventricle leads is a central axial lead,
• each of the four atrium leads are shape-set at a 90 degree angle in an expanded configuration, and each of the four atrium leads are separated 90 degrees from each other,
• the steerable catheter sheath is comprised of a distal portion and a proximal portion, and has a distance marker every 10 cm along its entire length,
• the distal portion of the steerable catheter sheath is 5 cm in length and has a 0.010″ pitch coil and a biocompatible polymer cover,
• the proximal portion of the steerable catheter sheath is 30 cm in length, has a 0.020″ pitch coil, a biocompatible polymer cover, at a proximal end of the proximal portion has a hub element, a Touhy-Borst access connector with a side port, an actuator dial that allows the steerable catheter sheath to be shaped and controlled, a deployment stop, and a cable junction housing,
• atrium lead terminals and ventricle lead terminals extend from the cable junction housing to the pacemaker, wherein the pacemaker comprises computer program instructions readable by a processor to provides functions selected from the group consisting of:
• a diagnostic function, a sensor operation, a stimulation signal, a program for an individual lead for sensing, a program to reduce over-sensing of the ventricular leads by T-waves or other noise or attenuating or interfering signals, a program to reduce over-sensing of the atrium leads by the R-wave, a program to minimize cross-talk, and a program to adjust sensing and stimulation on a lead-by-lead basis;
• the atrium leads shape-set to sense and stimulate an SA node area and an AV node area of the heart, the ventricle leads shape set to sense and stimulate a Bundle of His area, an Apex-Purkinje fiber area, and a Free-wall Purkinje area,
• each of said ventricular leads connected to a ventricular sensor or stimulator in said pacemaker and each of said atrium leads connected to an atrium sensor or stimulator in said pacemaker.

An electrode system connectable to a pacemaker for sequentially pacing both the atrium and ventricle of a human heart comprising:

• a plurality of insulated electrical leads comprising a first set of ventricle leads and a second set of atrium leads,
• an outer catheter sheath disposed over said plurality of leads, the outer catheter sheath being retractable from the ventricle leads to deploy the ventricle leads in the ventricle, each of the ventricle leads having a resiliency and shape to be deployed in contact with the ventricle wall when the outer sheath is retracted therefrom,
• the outer catheter sheath also being retractable from the atrium leads to deploy the atrium leads in the atrium, each of the atrium leads having the resiliency and shape to be deployed in contact with the atrium wall when the sheath is retracted,
• wherein the ventricle leads are not attachable to the ventricle wall, but are adapted to contact the ventricle wall, and the atrium leads are not attachable to the atrium wall, but are adapted to contact the atrium wall,
• the electrode system further comprising a first inner sheath disposed over the ventricle leads and a second inner sheath disposed over the atrium leads, the first and second inner sheaths being inside the outer catheter sheath, the outer catheter sheath and first inner sheath being retractable from the ventricle leads to deploy the ventricle leads in the ventricle, the outer catheter sheath and second inner sheath being retractable from the atrium leads to deploy the atrium leads in the atrium.