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AssigneeIntermedics, Inc.
InventorsEckhard Alt, Lawrence J. Stotts, Matthias Schmidt
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A variable rate cardiac pacemaker is adapted to be implanted in a human patient for automatically adapting pacing rate to metabolic need of the patient when the patient is walking in an ascending path, a descending path, or on a level plane. An accelerometer senses the activity of the patient walking, and produces an electrical sensor signal representative of the activity. The accelerometer signal has variable parameters indicative of morphology, including amplitude, of the sensor signal according to status of activity of the patient and to the upward, downward, or horizontal direction of the patient's walking. A pulse generator generates pacing pulses at a variable rate according to an applied control signal to electrically stimulate the patient's heart at a pacing rate which varies according to patient activity. A processing and control circuit of the pacemaker processes the sensor signal for detecting differences in the signal morphology attributable to whether the patient is walking on an ascending path, a descending path, or a level path, irrespective of the presence or absence of disparity in the amplitude of the sensor signal resulting from walking along the respective path. The latter circuit also develops the control signal to dictate a basic pacing rate from the amplitude of the sensor signal, and an enhanced rate more appropriate to the metabolic need of the patient from the detected differences in morphology of the sensor signal, for application to the pulse generator.
A variable rate cardiac pacemaker adapted to be implanted in a human patient, for pacing the patient's heart at a rate according to metabolic need of the patient when walking on a grade, the pacemaker comprising:
A device-implemented method for rate-responsive pacing of a human patient's heart to meet the metabolic needs of the patient when the patient is walking on a grade with an inclination constituting an ascending, descending, or level path, using a variable rate cardiac pacemaker adapted to be implanted in the patient, the method comprising the steps of:
A method of pacing the heart of a human patient using an implanted pacemaker device to automatically vary pacing rate according to whether the patient is engaged in types of activity characterized by walking up stairs, walking down stairs, or walking on a level surface, irrespective that intensity of the walking activity may be identical for all of said types of activity, comprising the device-implemented steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.