Method and apparatus for alleviating cardioversion shock pain

An implantable medical device system for delivering cardioversion energy to at least one chamber of a patient's heart in need of cardioversion and for alleviating pain attendant to delivery of cardioversion energy comprising:

• detecting means for detecting activity of a chamber of the patient's heart;
• determining means responsive to the detecting means for determining when the chamber of the patient's heart is in need of cardioversion;
• cardioverting means responsive to the determining means for delivering cardioversion energy to the chamber of the patient's heart when the chamber is in need of cardioversion;
• and
• means for applying a pain alleviating therapy at an appropriate site in the patient's body in conjunction with delivery of cardioversion energy to the heart chamber to reduce pain felt by the patient during delivery of the cardioversion energy:
• and wherein the pain alleviating therapy applying means comprises means for delivering neurostimulation pulses to the patient's nervous system to effect analgesia,
• means for timing delivery of cardioversion energy from the application of the pain alleviating therapy to allow time dependent effects of the applied pain alleviating therapy to take effect.

An implantable medical device for delivering cardioversion energy to the atria of a patient's heart in need of atrial cardioversion and for alleviating pain attendant to the delivery of the atrial cardioversion energy comprising:

• detecting means for detecting electrical activity of the atria of the patient's heart;
• determining means responsive to the detecting means for determining when the atria are in need of cardioversion;
• implantable atrial cardioversion means for delivering atrial cardioversion shocks to the patient's atria in need of cardioversion;
• and
• implantable pain alleviating means for applying a pain alleviating therapy to the patient's body in conjunction with delivery of atrial cardioversion shocks to reduce pain felt by the patient.

A method of delivering cardioversion energy to at least one chamber of a patient's heart in need of cardioversion comprising the steps of:

• detecting activity of the at least one chamber of the patient's heart;
• determining from the detected activity when the at least one chamber of the patient's heart is in need of cardioversion;
• delivering neurostimulation pulses to the patient's nervous system to effect analgesia to alleviate pain in body tissue arising from the delivery of the cardioversion energy;
• and
• delivering cardioversion energy to the at least one chamber of the patient's heart.

A method of delivering cardioversion energy to at least one chamber of a patient's heart in need of cardioversion comprising the steps of:

• detecting activity of the at least one chamber of the patient's heart;
• determining from the detected activity when the at least one chamber of the patient's heart is in need of cardioversion;
• applying a pain alleviating therapy to a site in the patient's body to alleviate pain in body tissue arising from the delivery of the cardioversion energy;
• and
• delivering cardioversion energy to the at least one chamber of the patient's heart;
• and
• timing the delivery of the cardioversion energy from the application of the pain alleviating therapy sufficiently to allow time dependent analgesia effects of the applied pain alleviating therapy to take effect.

A method of providing cardioversion energy to the atria of a patient's heart in need of atrial cardioversion and for alleviating pain attendant to the delivery of the atrial cardioversion energy comprising the steps of:

• detecting electrical activity of the atria of the patient's heart;
• in response to the detecting step, determining when the atria are in need of cardioversion;
• delivering atrial cardioversion shocks to the patient's atria in need of cardioversion;
• and
• applying a pain alleviating therapy to the patient's body in conjunction with the delivery of the atrial cardioversion shocks to reduce pain felt by the patient.