US 2006/0224199 A1Published application

System for waveform stimulation compensating electrode polarization

AssigneeMedtronic, Inc.

InventorVolkert Zeijlemaker

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Abstract

Upon delivery of a pacing pulse to a heart by an electrode of an implantable medical device (IMD), a deleterious pace polarization artifact is generally created at the electrode-tissue interface and subsequently stored by the electrode. Such polarization artifact is generally minimized through the use of passive recharge circuitry. Such passive recharge circuitry functions in creating a recharge pulse at the electrode which in essence, minimizes the polarization artifact on the electrode. In order to produce further artifact minimization from a subsequent pacing pulse, following termination of the recharge pulse, any remaining polarization artifact is sampled and analyzed by the IMD and IMD software optionally compensates the next recharge pulse to further minimize the polarization artifact generated by a next pacing pulse. This sampling and optional compensation is repeated for subsequent pacing pulses so that polarization artifacts are effectively analyzed and if necessary, minimized.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of reducing polarization on an implanted electrode used for electrically stimulating cardiac tissue, comprising:

a) providing an implantable medical device used for electrically stimulating cardiac tissue via one or more electrodes and used for sensing cardiac signals emanating from the cardiac tissue via one or more sense amplifiers;
b) delivering an electrical stimulation pulse generated by the device to the cardiac tissue via one of the electrodes;
c) delivering an electrical recharge pulse generated by the device to the cardiac tissue via the one of the electrodes, the electrical recharge pulse for minimizing polarization on the one of the electrodes resulting from the electrical stimulation pulse;
d) sensing the polarization on the one of the electrodes after delivery of the electrical recharge pulse;
e) determining whether the magnitude of the sensed polarization is within a predetermined desirable range;
f) calculating an adjustment amount for the electrical recharge pulse if the sensed polarization is not within the predetermined desirable range, the adjustment amount being based on the sensed polarization and calculated towards minimizing the sensed polarization;
and
g) adjusting the electrical recharge pulse by the calculated adjustment amount for a subsequent electrical recharge pulse to improve the minimization of the polarization resulting from a subsequent electrical stimulation pulse.

5 more elements

A computer readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed on a processor, cause said processor to perform operations for reducing polarization on at least one electrode, the processor being within a controller of an implantable medical device for electrically stimulating cardiac tissue via the at least one electrode, wherein the implantable medical device is also used for sensing cardiac signals emanating from the cardiac tissue via at least one sense amplifier, the operations comprising:

a) creating an electrical stimulation pulse to stimulate cardiac tissue via one electrode;
b) generating an electrical recharge pulse for delivery to the cardiac tissue via the one electrode to minimize polarization remaining on the one electrode from the electrical stimulation pulse;
c) sampling the polarization remaining on the one electrode a certain time after the electrical recharge pulse is delivered;
d) determining whether the sampled polarization is at a desirable level;
e) calculating an adjustment amount for the electrical recharge pulse if the sampled polarization is not within the predetermined desirable range, the adjustment amount being based on the sampled polarization and calculated towards minimizing the sensed polarization;
and
f) adjusting the electrical recharge pulse by the calculated adjustment amount for a subsequent electrical recharge pulse to improve the minimization of the polarization resulting from a subsequent electrical stimulation pulse.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.