Medtronic, Inc.

Alza Corporation

Paul D Sorenson

Larry A McNichols

Gary A Lattin

John D Badzinski

Dale A Dickson

Joseph B Phipps

Rama V Padmanabhan

Donald D Maurer

Michael J Grace

An electrotransport system (,) for delivery of a drug through the skin (,) of a patient includes a tactile signal generator (,) for generating and transmitting a tactile signal to the skin of a patient upon the occurrence of an event associated with the operation of the system. The tactile signal may be an electric AC signaling current (Sr, Sp) applied through the skin, ie, an electric current different from the therapeutic electrotransport drive current. The electric signaling current is preferably a pulsed current of sufficient frequency and amplitude to allow the patient to feel it. The tactile signal may alternatively be generated by an electromechanical device in contact with the skin such as a piezoelectric vibrating element or magnetodynamic element such as a solenoid driven pin. The waveform of the tactile signaling current preferably has a zero average current component such that no net therapeutic drug is delivered by the tactile signal current. In certain cases, the tactile signaling current may contribute to electrotransport drug delivery.

Electrotransport drug delivery device having tactile signaling means

The electrotransport drug delivery device includes a patient activity sensor which is used to selectively deliver drugs based upon a measured physical activity of the patient.

Activity controlled electrotransport drug delivery device

A two-stage iontophoretic drug delivery system provides that iontophoretic current is delivered at a first level for a first predetermined interval to rapidly introduce a therapeutic agent into the bloodstream and thereafter reduced to a second lower level to maintain a desired steady-state therapeutic level of the agent. One embodiment provides that the initial interval is maintained sufficiently long to provide a peak dosage, thereafter which the current is shut off to allow concentration of the agent to subside in the bloodstream, whereupon a maintenance level of iontophoretic current is initiated. Another embodiment provides that the patient may selectively initiate a brief interval of increased iontophoretic current level to attain a brief interval of increased dosage.

Iontophoretic drug delivery system with two-stage delivery profile

An iontophoresis device including a control module and a disposable electrode module. The control module includes a flexible printed circuit board carrying the battery and other electrical components. The control module is so configured that by trimming it along one of several labeled lines, various current levels may be selected. Trimming the control module provides a simple method for varying the dosage of the drug delivered by the iontophoresis device and simultaneously provides an easily readable visual indicator of the dosage level.

Programmable constant current source transdermal drug delivery system

An iontrophoretic medical device has a first light of controlled brightness. Iontophoretic contact with skin is measured by current flow and a second light is illuminated in proportion to current flow. Generally, equivalent brightness of the two lights indicates successful iontophoretic contact.

Apparatus and method for indication of iontophoretic drug dispenser

An ultrasound imaging system particularly adapted for detecting structure which reflects ultrasound at a variety of angles. There is a plurality of ultrasound transducers, which may be a linear array or a two-dimension array with the various horizontal rows of the array offset from one another, but having zero horizontal space or overlapping between adjacent vertical transducers. A sequencer causes one transducer to fire and then listen for an echo; if no echo is heard, the same transducer fires again and an adjacent transducer listens; if there is still no echo, the transducer fires and the next adjacent transducer listens; and so on until a predetermined listening sequence is concluded. If an echo is heard at any time, the listening sequence is terminated and the next transducer fires, as determined by a predetermined firing sequence, and the listening sequence for that firing transducer is conducted until an echo is heard or the listening sequence is completed; and so on until the firing sequence is completed. A counter measures the time between the transducer firing and the receipt of the echo to produce a range signal representative of the distance from the transducer face to the structure producing the echo. The signals produced by the transducers upon receipt of the echo and the range signal are processed by computer to produce a visual representation of the structure imaged, such as spine and rib structure.

Ultrasound imaging system

An ultrasound scanning system particularly adapted for imaging skeletal structure, such as the spinal column. An ultrasound scanning head for generating ultrasound waves and for receiving reflected ultrasound signals is mounted on a transporter for moving it linearily along the spine between a cervical reference point and a sacral reference point. A position transducer monitors the position of the transducer along the spine and a counter measures the time between the ultrasound pulse and its echo to determine the distance from the transducer face to the tissue interface responsible for generating the echo. The distance and range data is smoothed and analyzed in a digital computer using algorithms that distinguish between the echoes received from bone and other tissue such as lung tissue. The bone data is further processed via computer to produce a visual representation of the spine and rib structure sufficient for the diagnosis of spinal misalignment characteristic of scoliosis.

Ultrasound scanning system for skeletal imaging

An ultrasound scanning system including an array of ultrasound transducers and a transporter for moving the transducers over a human back. The movement of the ultrasound transducers define a plane and a position transducer produces a position signal representative of the position of the ultrasound transducers in the plane. There is a means for producing a range signal representative of the distance between the transducers and the objects imaged in the back. The range signals are digitized and stored in an array in a digital memory with the position of each stored range signal in the array corresponding to the position of the transducer from which the range signal was obtained in the plane at the time the range signal was received. The range information is printed on a page or displayed on a cathode ray tube with the position of the printed data on the page or the data displayed on the cathode ray tube corresponding to the position on the plane of the back from which the data was obtained.

Ultrasound scanner with mapped data storage

An ultrasound scanning system having a linear array of ultrasound transducers and a transporter system for moving the transducers along the human back. There is a means for producing a position signal indicative of the position of the array along the plane of the back, and a means for producing a range signal representative of the distance of objects interacting with the ultrasound signal from the transducer. An output means, such as a printer or cathode ray tube display, is responsive to the range signal and the position signal to produce an output representative of the structure of the body imaged during the back scan.

Ultrasound imaging system for scanning the human back

An ultrasonic imaging module including a housing having an internal fluid-filled chamber, and an ultrasonic transducer producing a beam of ultrasonic energy. The transducer includes a piezoelectric transducer element and a ball-shaped ultrasonic window rotatably mounted in a bearing in one wall of the chamber for transmitting the beam of ultrasonic energy to the object to be ultrasonically scanned while rolling on the object. A source of pressured fluid is connected to the chamber and the relative size of the bearing and roller-ball window are such that a film of ultrasonic coupling fluid is applied from the chamber to the surface of the object to be scanned as the roller-ball window turns in the bearing during the scanning process. An ultrasonic lens mounted in the chamber between the transducer element and the ball-window compensates for the effect of the sphericity of the window on the ultrasonic beam.

Roller-ball ultrasonic imaging module

An ultrasound scanning system particularly adapted for scanning large body areas such as the back. There is a plurality of ultrasound transducers, each mounted in a transducer shoe, and each shoe in turn mounted on a plunger which seats in the bore of a housing so that it is free to move independently from the other transducers in a direction parallel to the bore, but is constrained to move with the other transducers in the two perpendicular directions. A spring seated in the bore between the housing and the plunger provides a bias force to maintain a positive and uniform contact between the transducer and the back.

Ultrasound scanning system with semi-independent transducer array

An ultrasonic transducer system for scanning a body including an ultrasonic transducer mounted in a transducer shoe and means for applying acoustic coupling fluid to the transducer/body interface as the shoe moves along the interface. The means for applying the coupling fluid includes a fluid reservoir and a fluid dispensing channel in the transducer shoe, a position transducer for producing a signal proportional to the movement of the dispensing means along the transducer/body interface, a microprocessor responsive to the signal, and a stepping motor driven pump controlled by the microprocessor to pump fluid from the fluid reservoir to the dispensing channel in an amount determined by the movement of the dispensing means along the ultrasonic transducer/body interface.

Ultrasonic transducer system with fluid applicator

A reservoir system for a flexible, elongated, body implantable member of the type that is adapted to provide communication between separated body sites. A reservoir body is formed of a cup and cover which cooperate to define a cavity. Slots in the cup and/or cover admit a portion of the elongated member into the cavity. A tool is engageable with an elongated member portion within the cavity to coil a desired length of the elongated member within the cavity. On growth of the body, the coil is uncoiled to accommodate the greater distance between the body sites between which the elongated member extends. In a preferred embodiment, the tool is first rotated in one direction to coil a desired length of the elongated member within the cavity and then rotated in the other direction to uncoil and recoil all but a portion of the outermost coil spiral.

Reservoir system for a body implantable member

A method and apparatus for applying electrical stimulation to areas of the nervous system wherein the method permits precise pulse dosage control over prescribed time intervals to be exercised by the administering physician, and the apparatus is organized to provide the desired pulse dosage by means of selectable duty cycle on/off modulation of a pulse train having selectable pulse repetition rates and pulse widths. Digital circuitry is used in a pulse counting technique to implement the generation of pulse sequences such that direct quantitative control may be exercised.

Pulse dosage control unit for tissue stimulation system

An electrical stimulation system for selectively stimulating portions of the body. The system includes an external device for alternately transmitting stimulus signals and control signals to an implantable receiver. The receiver includes a plurality of output devies adapted to apply the stimulus signals to the body and circuitry for routing the stimulus signal to the output devices under the control of the control signals. In a preferred embodiment, the control signals are formed of an alterably preselected number of pulse signals with the routing circuitry routing each of the stimulus signals to the output devices in predetermined correspondance with the number of pulse signals within a different one of the control signals. The system of the present invention may be employed to sequentially stimulate several stimulation sites, with the stimulation sites being selected to combat the same or different body disfunctions. Alternatively, the system of the present invention may be employed to repetitively stimulate the same stimulation sites while allowing an alteration in the stimulation sites to combat nerve fatigue or to provide a more effective electrode configuration, for example.

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Blaine, MN, United States of America

Paul D Sorenson