Cyberonics, Inc.

Alan Adkins

Reese S Terry, Jr

Ross G Baker, Jr

Burke T Barrett

Cormac A O'Donovan

A method is disclosed for treating patients suffering from heart failure to increase cardiac output. The patient's vagus nerve is electrically stimulated or modulated with a sequence of substantially equally spaced pulses by an implanted neurostimulator, and the frequency of the stimulating pulses is adjusted until the patient's heart rate reaches a target rate within a relatively stable target rate range below the low end of the patient's customary resting heart rate. The frequency of the stimulating pulses is maintained at the frequency which ultimately produced the relatively stable target rate range so as not to deviate markedly from the target rate, at least so long as the patient remains at rest. An activity sensor associated with the implanted neurostimulator detects physical activity of the patient and adjusts the frequency of the stimulating pulses accordingly, to elevate the heart rate during periods of physical activity by the patient. When the patient ceases the activity, the vagal stimulation reverts along a prescribed fall-back path to a frequency that will reproduce the target heart rate.

Method to enhance cardiac capillary growth in heart failure patients

Improvements are disclosed in apparatus and techniques for activating an implantable medical device, such as a neurostimulator adapted to treat and control a disorder of a patient where the disorder is susceptible to relief in response to predetermined modulation of the electrical activity of a selected nerve or group of nerves of the patient. The neurostimulator includes a stimulus generator responsive, when activated, to generate a programmable electrical waveform, and an electrode array electrically connected to the stimulus generator for delivering the waveform to a selected nerve of the patient, such as the vagus nerve. The neurostimulator is also adapted to be programmed to provide the waveform with parameter values selected to stimulate the selected nerve to produce the predetermined modulation of the nerve's electrical activity. The neurostimulator is implemented to respond to a patient initiated signal which may be derived either manually or automatically to selectively activate the stimulus generator. Response to a manually derived signal produces a signal to trigger activation of the stimulus generator. Response to an automatically derived signal indicative of a manifestation of the disorder being treated will separately trigger activation of the stimulus generator.

Growing community of inventors

Angleton, TX, United States of America

Alan Adkins