Patent · US Expired

Atrial defibrillation methods and apparatus

US6292691A · kind A · utility

39Cited by
6References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 13, 1999
Grant dateSep 18, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 13, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
  • CPC primaryA61N1/395
  • WIPO fieldMedical technology
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for achieving atrial defibrillation in a heart. Atrial pacing is first conducted from multiple pacing sites in an independent (asynchronous) manner so as to have the desired effect of maximizing the extent of phase-locked area of atrial tissue. Next, an ADF shock is introduced, if still needed, to achieve atrial defibrillation. ADFT energy requirements have been shown to be dramatically reduced on account of using pacing rates set proportionally to the sensed local atrial fibrillation cycle lengths such that large areas of atrial tissues are phase-locked, and consequently atrial defibrillation can be effected in the patient with greatly reduced energy requirements for ADFTs.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.