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US 2010/0305644 A1Published application
Apparatus and method for testing and adjusting a bipolar stimulation configuration
AssigneeCardiac Pacemakers, Inc.
InventorsJulio C. Spinelli, Qingsheng Zhu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for measuring the capture threshold of a bipolar lead in order to determine an appropriate value for the stimulus pulse energy to be used with the lead by a cardiac rhythm management device. An appropriate bipolar stimulating configuration can also be determined. The method is particularly useful in testing bipolar leads used to excite the left ventricle such as when delivering cardiac resynchronization therapy.
Claims20
A cardiac rhythm management device, comprising:
- a control unit for controlling the operation of the device;
- a sense amplifier for receiving sense signals;
- a pulse generator for outputting stimulus pulses;
- a switching circuit interfaced to the control unit for connecting the sense amplifier and pulse generator to selected electrodes of a lead having first and second electrodes and for connecting the sense amplifier to a third electrode;
- wherein the controller is programmed to output stimulus pulses to the selected electrodes at selected pulse energies from the pulse generator and to determine a capture threshold by detecting evoked responses with the sense amplifier;
- and,
- wherein the control unit is programmed to measure unipolar capture thresholds for each of the first and second electrodes of the lead using the third electrode as a reference and determine which of the first and second electrodes has the lower unipolar capture threshold.
4 more elements
A device for delivering stimulation pulses to the heart, comprising:
- means for delivering stimulation pulses to first and second electrodes of a lead in a bipolar stimulation configuration, to the first electrode of the lead in a unipolar stimulation configuration, or to the second electrode of the lead in a unipolar stimulation configuration;
- means for measuring capture thresholds of the unipolar stimulation configurations using the first and second electrodes;
- means for selecting an appropriate bipolar stimulation configuration as one in which the cathode is whichever of the first and second electrodes has the lower unipolar capture threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.