US 8,805,534 B2 · Grounding of a shield within an implantable medical lead

Abstract

Grounding of a shield that is located in an implantable medical lead may be done in many ways. The shield may be grounded directly to tissue from the lead body at one or more points along the lead body. The pathway for grounding may be a direct current pathway or be capacitively coupled. The pathway for grounding may utilize an exposed or nearly exposed shield at one or more points along the lead body. A jacket forming the lead body may have an outer layer removed at these points to provide the RF pathway to ground. Alternatively, the jacket may be doped with conductive particles at these points. Metal conductors such as ring electrodes and/or lead anchors may be attached to the lead at one or more points to provide the RF pathway to ground.

Claims33

Dependent claims

A method of grounding a braided shield of an implantable medical lead, comprising:

providing at least one point along the lead where a thickness of a jacket covering the braided shield is less than a thickness of the jacket at areas on either side of the at least one point;
establishing a ground path at the at least one point;
and
attaching a metal ring around the at least one point, wherein attaching the metal ring comprises attaching a metal ring that includes a non-conductive coating that creates a capacitive coupling to the metal ring.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Grounding of a shield within an implantable medical lead

Life of this patent

Grounding of a shield within an implantable medical lead

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims33