Medtronic, Inc.

William J Hooper

David L Thompson

John E Nicholson

James M Sikorski

Christopher M Hobot

Kenneth Timothy Heruth

Robert M Skime

Mark S Lent

William Jeffrey Bertrand

Maura G Donovan

Ruchika Singhal

Randall V Sparer

James K Byland

Michael D DeFranco

Implantable medical devices (IMDS) having anti-infective properties are described. Anti-infective agents are disposed in, on, or about at least a portion of a surface of the medical device. The anti-infective agents are disposed in or on a vehicle, which may be in the form of a coating layer or covering. The vehicle may be biodegradable so that, over time, the anti-infective agent is removed from a tissue location into which the device is implanted, reducing the likelihood that microorganisms resistant to the anti-infective agent will develop. IMDs having an anti-infective agent and an anti-activity agent disposed therein, thereabout, or thereon are also described. The anti-activity agent interferes with the activity of the anti-infective agent, may be released from a surface at the IMD at a time when activity of the anti-infective agent is no longer desired, and may reduce the likelihood that microorganisms resistant to the anti-infective agent will develop.

Anti-infective medical device

An enclosure for use in pacemaker as well as other implantable medical devices has a substantially planar lid which is welded to a circumferential flange formed on a deep drawn shield. The shield and lid form a 'container' which is encased in a compliant shroud which isolates the welded flange from direct body contact and which enhances the biocompatibility of the entire device. A resilient and compliant shroud material accepts connector module components, integrates seals, provides storage for lead wrap, and provides a simple low cost and reliable method of attaching stimulating leads or other structures required by the medical device.

Pacemaker

A conical annulus formed on a pacer lead body engages a deformable retention ring formed on the connector block to hold the lead in the pacer.

Locking connector for implantable device

Implantable medical housing

A method and apparatus for accessing a nonvolatile electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) following hermetic closure of a device containing the EEPROM. The EEPROM is accessed by a direct connection to a feedthrough pin extending through the hermetic enclosure. Following hermetic sealing, the memory is still accessible for programming. In the implantable medical device field, the invention may be utilized to program in the device serial number or similar data which may be telemetered out of the device on command of an external programmer/transciever in order to identify the device. In a specific application, a rate responsive pacemaker, an activity sensor mounted within the hermetically sealed enclosure is electrically connected to the EEPROM and other operating circuitry. At final test, the output of the activity sensor may be checked against specific levels of mechanical activity input applied to the exterior of the enclosure by observing the pacing rates developed from the sensor signal values, calculating a gain factor and storing the gain factor(s) in the EEPROM for adjusting the activity sensor derived pacing rate through its normal range of response. This trimming of the response of the activity sensor minimizes the number of completed medical devices that fail to meet specification tolerances and allows those tolerances to be narrowed to assure relatively consistent variations in pacing rate as a function of applied mechanical force. Once the factor(s) is stored and its accuracy is confirmed by retesting the pacing rate, the dedicated feedthrough pin is removed or rendered inaccessible.

Method and apparatus for accessing a nonvolatile memory

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Lake Elmo, MN, United States of America

William J Hooper