Back to results
US 8,620,428 B2Granted
Electrical inibition of the phrenic nerve during cardiac pacing
AssigneeCardiac Pacemakers, Inc.
InventorsJuan Gabriel Hincapie Ordonez, Holly Rockweiler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
According to various method embodiments for pacing a heart and avoiding unwanted stimulation of a phrenic nerve during cardiac pacing, a desired pacing time for delivering a cardiac pace is determined, and a desired nerve traffic inhibition time to inhibit nerve traffic in the phrenic nerve is determined using the desired pace time. The cardiac pace is delivered at the desired pacing time and nerve traffic in the phrenic nerve is inhibited at the desired nerve traffic inhibition time.
Claims25
A system for pacing a heart and avoiding unwanted stimulation of a phrenic nerve, comprising:
- a cardiac pulse generator configured to generate cardiac paces to pace the heart;
- a nerve traffic inhibitor configured to generate an electrical signal to deliver a waveform to the phrenic nerve that modifies excitability of nerve axons in the phrenic nerve to inhibit nerve traffic in the phrenic nerve;
- a cardiac activity sensor configured to sense cardiac activity;
- a controller operably connected to the cardiac pulse generator, the nerve traffic inhibitor, and the cardiac activity sensor,
- wherein the controller includes a cardiac pacing timer and a nerve traffic inhibition timer,
- wherein the controller is configured to use sensed cardiac activity and the cardiac pacing timer to determine a desired pace time for a cardiac pace, and
- wherein the controller is configured to use the desired pace time and the nerve traffic inhibition timer to control the nerve traffic inhibitor to deliver the waveform to the phrenic nerve at a desired inhibition time with respect to the desired pace time to prevent the cardiac pace from stimulating the phrenic nerve.
4 more elements
A system for pacing a heart and avoiding unwanted stimulation of a phrenic nerve, comprising:
- a cardiac pulse generator configured to generate cardiac paces to pace the heart;
- a nerve traffic inhibitor configured to generate an electrical signal to deliver a waveform to the phrenic nerve that modifies excitability of nerve axons in the phrenic nerve to inhibit nerve traffic in the phrenic nerve;
- a cardiac activity sensor configured to sense cardiac activity;
- a respiration detector configured to detect a respiration cycle;
- a controller operably connected to the cardiac pulse generator, the nerve traffic inhibitor, and the cardiac activity sensor;
- a context detector, including a physiological sensor or clock, configured to detect a contextual event and provide an enable signal to the controller when the contextual event is detected,
- wherein the controller includes a cardiac pacing timer and a nerve traffic inhibition timer,
- wherein the controller is configured to use sensed cardiac activity and the cardiac pacing timer to determine a desired pace time for a cardiac pace,
- wherein the controller is configured to use the desired pace time and the nerve traffic inhibition timer to control the nerve traffic inhibitor to deliver the waveform to the phrenic nerve at a desired inhibition time with respect to the desired pace time to prevent the cardiac pace from stimulating the phrenic nerve,
- wherein the controller is configured to use the detected respiration cycle to determine the desired inhibition time, and
- wherein the controller is configured to control the nerve traffic inhibitor to inhibit nerve traffic in the phrenic nerve only for a time period after the contextual event is detected.
8 more elements
A system for pacing a heart and avoiding unwanted stimulation of a phrenic nerve, comprising:
- a cardiac pulse generator configured to generate cardiac paces to pace the heart;
- a nerve traffic inhibitor configured to generate an electrical signal to deliver a waveform to the phrenic nerve that modifies excitability of nerve axons in the phrenic nerve to inhibit nerve traffic in the phrenic nerve, wherein the phrenic nerve is a left phrenic nerve;
- a left ventricular lead configured to position at least one left ventricular pacing electrode to pace a left ventricle of the heart, wherein the cardiac pulse generator is configured to use the left ventricle lead to deliver pacing pulses to the left ventricle;
- a cardiac activity sensor configured to sense cardiac activity;
- a respiration detector configured to detect a respiration cycle;
- a controller operably connected to the cardiac pulse generator, the nerve traffic inhibitor, and the cardiac activity sensor,
- wherein the controller includes a cardiac pacing timer and a nerve traffic inhibition timer,
- wherein the controller is configured to use sensed cardiac activity and the cardiac pacing timer to determine a desired pace time for a cardiac pace,
- wherein the controller is configured to use the detected respiration cycle to determine a desired inhibition time, and
- wherein the controller is configured to use the desired pace time and the nerve traffic inhibition timer to control the nerve traffic inhibitor to deliver the waveform to the phrenic nerve at the desired inhibition time with respect to the desired pace time to prevent the cardiac pace from stimulating the phrenic nerve.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.