Heart stimulation device

US6408207B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• BIOTRONIK MESS-UND THERAPIEGERATE · DE

Inventors

• David F. Hastings · Lake Oswego, US
• Max Schaldach · Erlangen, DE
• Gary Rolison · Portland, US
• Robert R. Weyant · Claremont, US
• Helmut Hutten · Mainz, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 31, 1999
• Grant date: Jun 18, 2002
• Expiry date: Mar 31, 2019

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61N1/36514
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A device for maintaining or reestablishing a natural heart rhythm by generating an electrical stimulation signal. In particular a device in the form of an implantable heart pacemaker that displays at least one sensor arranged inside the patient's body for picking up a body-specific signal containing information concerning demand for heart performance, or another magnitude relevant to the heart. The device is characterized by the fact that connected downstream to the sensor is a processing unit that obtains from the measurement signal a body-specific rhythm signal whose periodicity is equal to or greater than the periodicity of the breathing activity, and thus lies above the periodicity of the heart activity, whereby the body-specific rhythm signal forms a control signal that influences the stimulation signal.