Method and apparatus for alleviating cardioversion shock pain by delivering a bolus of analgesic

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 a bolus of an analgesic to the patient's body to effect analgesia.

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;
• wherein the step of applying the pain alleviating therapy comprises delivering a bolus of analgesic to the patient's body to effect analgesia;
• and
• wherein the step of applying the pain alleviating therapy comprises delivering the analgesic to the patient in the region of spinal segments T1 through T4.

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;
• wherein the step of applying the pain alleviating therapy comprises delivering a bolus of analgesic to the patient's body to effect analgesia;
• and
• wherein the step of applying the pain alleviating therapy comprises delivering the analgesic to 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;
• wherein the step of applying the pain alleviating therapy comprises delivering a bolus of analgesic to the patient's body to effect analgesia;
• and
• wherein the step of applying a pain alleviating therapy further comprises delivering neurostimulation pulses to a pain pathway of the patient's nervous method to effect analgesia.