Implantable medical device with time for therapeutic output replenishment determination and method therefore

An implantable drug pump for delivering a variable amount of a therapeutic substance to a patient into which said implantable drug pump is adapted to be implanted, comprising:

• a reservoir for holding said therapeutic substance;
• a pump operatively coupled to said reservoir and adapted to be coupled to said patient to deliver said therapeutic substance to said patient;
• a measure determining an amount based at least in part on an amount of said therapeutic substance actually delivered to said patient;
• and
• a calculator responsive to said measure for determining a time in the future at which said reservoir of said implantable drug pump should be replenished with said therapeutic substance based at least in part upon said amount obtained from said measure.

An implantable medical device for producing a variable therapeutic output to a patient into which said implantable medical device is implanted, comprising:

• a therapeutic output delivery module adapted to be coupled to said patient and to deliver said variable therapeutic output to patient, said therapeutic output delivery module requiring replenishment following delivery of a predetermined amount of said therapeutic output;
• a predeteimined parameter representative of a time in the future at which said therapeutic output delivery module should be replenished based at least in part upon a predicted delivery rate of said therapeutic output to said patient;
• a measure determining an amount of said therapeutic output actually delivered to said patient;
• a comparator operatively coupled to said predetermined parameter and to said measure for comparing said amount of said therapeutic output actually delivered to said patient with an amount of said therapeutic output expected to have been delivered to said patient based at least in part upon said predicted delivery rate and producing a result based thereon;
• and
• an adjusted parameter representative of an adjusted time in the future at which said therapeutic output delivery module should be replenished based at least in part upon said result from said comparator.

An implantable drug pump for delivering a variable amount of a therapeutic substance to a patient into which said implantable drug pump is implanted, comprising:

• a reservoir for holding said therapeutic substance;
• a pump operatively coupled to said reservoir and adapted to be coupled to said patient to deliver said therapeutic substance to said patient;
• a predetermined parameter representative of a time in the future at which said reservoir of said implantable drug pump should be replenished based at least in part upon a predicted delivery rate of said therapeutic substance to said patient;
• a measure determining an amount based at least in part on a quantity of said therapeutic substance actually delivered to said patient;
• a comparator operatively coupled to said predetermined parameter and to said counter for comparing said amount with an amount of said therapeutic substance expected to have been delivered to said patient based at least in part upon said predicted delivery rate and producing a result based thereon;
• and
• an adjusted parameter representative of an adjusted time in the future at which said reservoir of said implantable drug pump should be replenished with said therapeutic substance based at least in part upon said result from said comparator.