US 9,174,060 B2Granted

Implantable cardiac devices and methods

AssigneeNeurocardiac Innovations, LLC

InventorNader Kameli

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Abstract

Embodiments relate to an implantable cardiac system and methods, including a housing, electronic circuitry for controlling one or more of power management, processing unit, information memory and management circuit, sensing and simulation output and how these operate. The system also includes diagnosis and treatment software for diagnosing health issues, diagnosing mechanical issues, determining therapy output and manage patient health indicators over time, a power supply system including at least one rechargeable battery, a recharging system, an alarm (or alert) system to inform patient of energy level and integrity of system, communication circuitry, one or more electrodes for delivering therapeutic signal to a heart and one or more electrodes for from delivering electrocardiogram signal from the heart to the electronic circuitry, and body orientation determination, in various aspects.

Claims29

Dependent claims

A method for treatment of a patient with a risk for experiencing a ventricular fibrillation or sudden cardiac death event, the method comprising:

a healthcare professional implanting a first device into the patient in anticipation of the patient experiencing a ventricular fibrillation or a sudden cardiac death event, wherein the first device comprises therapy circuitry configured to apply defibrillation therapy to the patient, and wherein the first device is configured to (i) monitor the patient's heart to determine if the patient has experienced a ventricular fibrillation or sudden cardiac death event, (ii) store data associated with a determined ventricular fibrillation or sudden cardiac death event, (iii) determine whether the therapy circuitry has exceeded a pre-programmed reliable operational life threshold, (iii) apply defibrillation therapy to the patient's heart via the therapy circuitry in response to determining that both (iii-a) the patient has experienced a ventricular fibrillation or sudden cardiac death event and (iii-b) the therapy circuitry has not exceeded the pre-programmed reliable operational life threshold, and (iv) disable the therapy circuitry's ability to apply defibrillation therapy to the patient's heart in response to determining that the therapy circuitry has exceeded the pre-programmed reliable operational life threshold;
and
after the first device has applied defibrillation therapy to the patient's heart, the healthcare professional, or one or more other healthcare professionals, (i) analyzing the data associated with a determined ventricular fibrillation or sudden cardiac death event, (ii) selecting an implantable cardiac device having at least one operational feature based on the analysis of the data associated with the determined ventricular fibrillation or sudden cardiac death event, (iii) extracting the first device from the patient;
and (iv) implanting the selected implantable cardiac device into the patient, wherein the selected implantable cardiac device is configured to perform at least one function that the first device is not configured to perform.

1 more element

A method for treatment of a patient with a risk for sudden cardiac death, the method comprising:

a healthcare professional implanting a first device into the patient in anticipation that the patient will experience a sudden cardiac death event, wherein the healthcare professional performs the implantation without first conducting defibrillation threshold testing on the patient;
and
wherein the first device comprises (i) monitoring circuitry configured to determine whether the patient has experienced a sudden cardiac death event and store data associated with a determined sudden cardiac death event, (ii) therapy circuitry configured to apply defibrillation therapy to the patient's heart in response to the monitoring circuitry determining that the patient has experienced a sudden cardiac death event, and (iii) expiration circuitry configured to prevent the therapy circuitry from applying defibrillation therapy to the patient's heart in response to the expiration circuitry determining that the therapy circuitry has exceeded a pre-programmed reliable operational life threshold.

A method for treating a patient with a risk for sudden cardiac death, the method comprising:

a healthcare professional implanting a first device into a patient without performing defibrillation threshold testing on the patient before implanting the first device, wherein the first device comprises (i) monitoring circuitry configured to determine whether the patient has experienced a sudden cardiac death event and store data about a determined sudden cardiac death event, (ii) therapy circuitry configured to apply defibrillation therapy to the patient's heart in response to the monitoring circuitry determining that the patient has experienced a sudden cardiac death event, and (iii) expiration circuitry configured to disable the therapy circuitry from applying defibrillation therapy to the patient's heart in response to determining that the therapy circuitry has exceeded a pre-programmed reliable operational life threshold;
and
after the monitoring circuitry of the first device has determined that the patient has experienced a sudden cardiac death event, the healthcare professional, or one or more other healthcare professionals, (i) selecting an implantable cardiac device having at least one operational feature based on the data about the determined sudden cardiac death event, (ii) extracting the first device from the patient;
and (iii) implanting the selected implantable cardiac device into the patient, wherein the selected implantable cardiac device has a longer operational lifespan than the first device.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/011,806Filed 21 Jan 2011
Published: US 2012/0191152 A126 Jul 2012
Granted: 3 Nov 2015
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

A61N 1/375
Arrangements in connection with the implantation of stimulators: constructional arrangements, e.g. casings
A61N 1/37512
Constructional arrangements, e.g. casings: pacemakers
A61N 1/3925
Heart defibrillators: monitoring; Protecting
A61N 1/3956
Heart defibrillators: implantable devices for applying electric shocks to the heart, e.g. for cardioversion