Pacesetter Ab

St. Jude Medical Ab

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Siemens Elema Ab

Hans G Strandberg

Jakub Hirschberg

Leda Henriquez

Sven-Erik Hedberg

Kurt Hoegnelid

Heinz Neubauer

Åsa Broomé

Nils Holmström

Kjell Noren

Anders Björling

Kenneth Dahlberg

Olof Stegfeldt

Asa Uhrenius

Göran Budgifvars

Mikael Sjögren

Åke Sivard

Annika Naeslund

Eva Harström

Gustav Pellijeff

Michael Lenz

Karin Järverud

Rolf Hill

Martin Obel

Ulf Lindegren

Anders Lindgren

Bruno Slettenmark

Johan Lidman

Johan Eckerdal

Karin Ljungström

Hakan Elmqvist

Brigitte Stroetmann

Per Franberg

Mark Willerton

Ake Sivard

Henrik Djurling

Anna Norlin-Weissenrieder

Hans Andersen

Susanne Nilsson

Kjell Nor&eacute;n

Viktor Skoog

Kurt Hognelid

Lars Forsmark

Hans Schueller

Paul Brand

Anna Weissenrieder-Norlin

Asa Broome

Anders BJÖRLING

Åsa Broomè

An assembly includes a medical implantable lead adapted to be attached with a distal end of the lead to an organ inside a human or animal body, the medical implantable lead being formed with an inner lumen extending along essentially the entire length of the lead. The assembly also includes a support core that has a desirable stiffness and a suitably cross sectional dimension such that it is insertable into the lumen () in order to increase the stiffness of the lead along its length during its working life when being implanted into a body. A method for implanting a medical implantable lead into a human or animal body makes use of such an assembly.

Medical lead assembly and method for implantation thereof

A medical implantable lead adapted to be implanted into a human or animal body for monitoring and/or controlling of an organ inside the body has a fixation in a distal end, which is adapted to fix a distal end of the lead to the organ, an electrode member in the distal end adapted to be in contact with tissue of the organ and receive and/or transmit electrical signals from and/or to the organ, and at least one electrically conducting coil, which includes one or more electrically conducting helical wires and that is adapted to connect the electrode member in the distal end with a monitoring and/or controlling device in a proximal end of the lead. One or more of the individual wires of the coil has a wire core that is provided with a surrounding electrically insulating layer, which in turn is provided with a surrounding electrically conducting shield layer, and the coil is close lapped such that electrically conducting shield layers of adjacent loops of the coil are in electrical contact with each other.

Medical implantable lead and method for the manufacture thereof

An implantable electrode lead for tissue stimulation adapted to be attached to an implantable tissue stimulator provided with a pulse generator, has at least two stimulation electrodes to apply stimulation pulses to said tissue and arranged close to the distal end of the electrode lead, and at least two electrical conductors to connect said electrodes to said pulse generator. The electrode lead further has a switching unit arranged close to the distal end of the electrode lead and adapted to switch the electrode lead between a local pacing mode and a normal pacing mode, the switching unit being controlled by a mode control signal. Further, a pacing module is arranged close to the distal end of the electrode lead and in relation to the switching unit and being connectable to said at least two stimulation electrodes, the pacing module includes a pulse generating unit to generate stimulating pulses to be applied to the tissue by the stimulation electrodes. When the electrode lead is in the local pacing mode the electrical conductors are disconnected from said stimulation electrodes which instead are connected to the pacing module, and when the electrode lead is in the normal pacing mode the electrical conductors are connected to the stimulation electrodes.

Electrode lead

A tissue stimulating device that provides biological stimulation of tissue has a release surface adapted for arrangement adjacent to a tissue to be stimulated. An agent reservoir of the device includes an ionic agent capable of causing a stimulation if present at sufficient high extracellular concentration close to the tissue. An agent releaser is provided in the device for releasing a selected amount of the ionic agent from the agent reservoir to an outside of the release surface at a stimulation occasion for stimulating the tissue. The ionic agent will cause a temporary change in ion permeability of the tissue cell membranes and a depolarization of the tissue cells.

Tissue stimulating device and method

A medical implantable lead has a proximal end and a distal end, and a flexible flat elongate body. The elongate body includes a layer of strip conductors extending along the length of the flat elongate body, a top insulating layer, and a bottom insulating layer. The layer of strip conductors is sealingly enclosed between the top and bottom insulating layers, and at least a major portion of the flat elongate body is twisted into an elongate helical portion having a central cavity extending longitudinally of the helical portion.

Medical implantable lead

In a method and medical system for determining a link quality and a link quality margin of a communication link between a programmer device and an implantable medical device of such a medical system, a link quality monitoring circuit of the programmer or the medical device a present link quality and/or link quality margin at reduced signal power using at least one link quality parameter.

Method and medical system for determining a link quality of a communication link in such a medical system

An implantable bi-ventricular heart stimulating device and system, suitable for treating congestive heart failure, have a control circuit with first and second pacing circuits and first and second sensing circuits. The device operates with time cycles corresponding to normal heart cycles. The control circuit determines: (a) whether a signal typical of an evoked response to a pacing pulse delivered by the first pacing circuit is sensed within a first time interval and (b) whether a signal typical for an R-wave transferred from the second ventricle, or from some other part of the heart, to the first ventricle is detected within a first time window. The operation of the device depends on whether the conditions (a) and (b) are fulfilled.

Bi-ventricular pacer, system and method

An implantable medical device is operable in a normal mode of operation, including a test mode, as well as in at least one other mode of operation outside of the normal mode. The device has a signal detector that is responsive to an external activation and a timer that can be programmed with a specified time period. If the external activation is detected by the signal detector during the programmed time period, the medical device is operated in a mode outside of the normal mode. The medical device enters into the test mode, within the normal mode, if the external activation is detected by the signal detector outside of the time period.

Implantable medical device operable in a special mode upon activation during a programmed time

An implantable bi-ventricular heart stimulating device () has a control circuit with first and second sensing circuits for respectively sensing in the two ventricles and first and second stimulation circuits for respectively stimulating the two ventricles. The control circuit determines whether a signal, sensed by said second sensing circuit, occurs essentially simultaneously with a signal sensed by the first sensing circuit. Furthermore, the control circuit determines whether a further signal is sensed by said second sensing circuit within a predetermined time interval which follows after the signal sensed by the second sensing circuit but within the same time cycle as that signal. If this occurs, the control circuit determines whether the sensed signals represent actual cardiac events, or are likely the result of far field detection.

Implantable bi-ventricular stimulation device and system, and bi-ventricular stimulation and sensing method

A blood flow measuring apparatus has a measuring electrode and a counter-electrode adapted to be brought into contact with the blood of a patient. A measuring unit measures a voltage or a current between the measuring electrode and the counter-electrode and determines the flow of blood therefrom. The measuring electrode is ring-shaped and sized to fit within a blood vessel in the body of the patient. An inner surface of the ring-shaped electrode forms an active measuring electrode surface. The blood flow measuring apparatus is suitable for use in a cardiac pacemaker.

Blood flow measuring apparatus

A pacemaker is operable in a tracking and a non-tracking mode and has an automatic mode switching function for switching the pacemaker into the non-tracking mode of operation in response to the detection of atrial tachycardia. A comparator compares an atrial interval, between detected atrial events, with a predetermined atrial tachycardia limit value and records a tachycardia indication if the interval is less than the atrial tachycardia limit value. The mode switching unit switches the mode of operation to the non-tracking mode if the number of recorded tachycardia indications reaches a predetermined tachycardia count limit. Intervals between other cardiac events detected by the atrial detector or a ventricular detector also are supplied to the comparator wherein they are compared with the atrial tachycardia limit value. The recorded number of tachycardia indications is reduced by one if at least one of these additional intervals, during a pacemaker interval between two consecutive ventricular stimulations or between two consecutive R-wave detections, is longer than the tachycardia limit value.

Pacemaker using measured intervals for mode switching

A pacemaker housing has a socket for receiving a plug of an electrode lead, the socket being located in an opaque part of the housing, and the housing having an exterior marking which indicates a proper insertion depth for the plug into the socket. The plug of the electrode lead can be provided with one or more markings which successively proceed toward the side of the housing having the socket opening therein, with one of the markings coinciding with the edge of the socket when the plug is inserted to a proper depth into the socket.

Pacer housing

Mathematical functions such as recursive autoregression models which include parameters are used for defining the heart signal and any signals disturbing the heart signal, such as polarization signals. By registering, during a predetermined time interval, the electrode signal for determining the parameters for one or more different mathematical functions, the parameters can be used on their own or in combination to determine the activity of the heart, i.e., whether the registered electrode signal corresponds to a stimulated, spontaneous or absence of heart activity.

Apparatus for tissue stimulation

Heart stimulation device

A cardiac event detecting system for an implantable heart stimulator intended to be connected to the heart of a patient through at least two unipolar electrode leads or at least one bipolar electrode lead having one electrode pole in the atrium and one electrode pole in the ventricle for sensing heart signals, has at least two signal channels for signals sensed between the two electrode poles and between one of the electrode poles and the stimulator capsule, respectively. Each signal channel has a signal processing stage. Decision logic compares the signals from the two signal channels with signal criteria for detecting the occurrence of a cardiac event. An A/D-convertor converts sampled values of the sensed heart signals into digital words for each signal channel. The decision logic is adapted for comparing the digital words and their differences with the criteria for determining the occurrence of a cardiac event.

Cardiac event detecting system for a heart stimulator

Growing community of inventors

Sundbyberg, Sweden

Hans G Strandberg