Modulate pacing rate to increase the percentage of effective ventricular capture during atrial fibrillation
AssigneeMedtronic, Inc.
InventorsRichard M.T. Lu, Subham Ghosh, Robert W. Stadler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure pertains to cardiac pacing methods and systems, and, more particularly, to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). In particular, the present disclosure pertains to determining whether a patient is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF). If the patient is experiencing AF, the efficacy of CRT is determined. A signal is sensed in response to a ventricular pacing stimulus. Through signal processing, a number of features are parsed from the signal and a determination is made as to whether the ventricular pacing stimulus evoked a response from the ventricle.
Claims26
An apparatus for determining whether a ventricular pacing stimulus is capturing a paced ventricle during atrial fibrillation, comprising:
- processing means for determining whether a patient is experiencing atrial fibrillation;
- processing means for adjusting a heart rate (HR) target level to a first HR target level;
- processing means for holding the first HR target level;
- processing means for disabling effective capture analysis;
- processing means for determining whether a number of sensed ventricular events out of a total number of ventricular events exceeds a pre-specified level;
- and
- adjusting the first HR target level to a second HR target level responsive to determining the number of sensed ventricular events out of the total number of ventricular events exceeds the pre-specified level.
An apparatus for determining whether a ventricular pacing stimulus is capturing a paced ventricle during atrial fibrillation, comprising:
- processing means for determining whether a patient is experiencing atrial fibrillation;
- processing means for adjusting a heart rate (HR) target level to a first HR target level;
- processing means for holding the first HR target level;
- processing means for disabling analysis to determine whether pacing stimulus is effectively capturing a ventricle;
- processing means for determining whether a number of sensed ventricular events out of a total number of ventricular events does not exceed a pre-specified level;
- and
- determining that the first HR target level does not require adjustment responsive to determining the number of sensed ventricular events out of the total number of ventricular events does not exceed the pre-specified level.
A computer-implemented method for determining whether a ventricular pacing stimulus is capturing a paced ventricle during atrial fibrillation, comprising:
- determining whether a patient is experiencing atrial fibrillation;
- adjusting a heart rate (HR) target level to a first HR target level;
- holding the first HR target level;
- disabling analysis to determine whether pacing stimulus is effectively capturing a ventricle;
- determining whether a number of sensed ventricular events out of a total number of ventricular events exceeds a pre-specified level;
- and
- adjusting the first HR target level to a second HR target level responsive to determining the number of sensed ventricular events out of the total number of ventricular events exceeds the pre-specified level.
A computer-implemented method of determining whether a ventricular pacing stimulus is capturing a paced ventricle during atrial fibrillation, comprising:
- determining whether a patient is experiencing atrial fibrillation;
- adjusting a heart rate (HR) target level to a first HR target level;
- holding the first HR target level;
- disabling analysis to determine whether pacing stimulus is effectively capturing a ventricle;
- determining whether a number of sensed ventricular events out of a total number of ventricular events does not exceed a pre-specified level;
- and
- determining that the first HR target level does not require adjustment responsive to determining the number of sensed ventricular events out of the total number of ventricular events does not exceed the pre-specified level.
A non-transitory machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method, the method comprising:
- determining whether a patient is experiencing atrial fibrillation;
- adjusting a heart rate (HR) target level to a first HR target level;
- holding the first HR target level;
- disabling analysis to determine whether pacing stimulus is effectively capturing a ventricle;
- determining whether a number of sensed ventricular events out of a total number of ventricular events exceeds a pre-specified level;
- and
- adjusting the first HR target level to a second HR target level responsive to determining the number of sensed ventricular events out of the total number of ventricular events exceeds the pre-specified level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.