System and method for regulating blood pressure and electrolyte balance
AssigneeMedtronic, Inc.
InventorsLilian Kornet, Pierre A. Grandjean
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is an apparatus and method for controlling blood pressure by stimulating the cardiac afferent sympathetic nerves. The invention may be implemented in a medical device having a pressure sensor for sensing blood pressure, an electrode for providing electrical signals to the cardiac afferent sympathetic nerves, and a controller for providing signals to the electrode as a function of blood pressure signals received from the pressure sensor.
Claims6
A method for affecting blood pressure, the method comprising:
- sensing a current blood pressure;
- electrically blocking electrical activity in the cardiac afferent sympathetic nerves if the sensed blood pressure is below a range of normal blood pressures;
- and
- electrically stimulating electrical activity in the cardiac afferent sympathetic nerves if the blood pressure is above the range of normal blood pressures.
A method according to claim 2, wherein the method is prescribed as therapy for a hemodialysis patient.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.