The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 05, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 08, 2000
Gabriel A. Mouchawar, Newhall, CA (US);
David W. Adinolfi, Valencia, CA (US);
Mark W. Kroll, Simi Valley, CA (US);
Pacesetter, Inc., Sylmar, CA (US);
Abstract
The implant guiding programmer is configured to automatically determine the defibrillation threshold (DFT) for a particular patient and to further determine an optimal implantation configuration for an implantable cardioverter fibrillator (ICD). In one implementation, to determine the DFT for the patient, the programmer correlates patient specific data with a predictive data base containing DFT information for an entire population of patients. The patient specific data includes the age, gender, heart size, chest size and medical history of the patient. The predictive database provides information correlating patient DFT with various ranges of the patient specific data for an entire population of data. In this manner, the programmer quickly approximates the DFT for the particular patient based upon the age, gender, heart size and medical history of the patient. In another implementation, the programmer automatically determines the DFT for the patient by performing a finite element analysis on an image of the thorax of the patient generated using an MRI or a CAT scan. To this end, the programmer calculates distribution characteristics of electrical pulses generated within the thorax and determines therefrom the DFT for the patient. In either implementation, the programmer additionally determines an optimal implantation configuration for the patient, wherein the optimal configuration is one which is capable of exceeding the DFT for the patient using minimal electrical pulse energy. The optimal configuration specifies the particular make and model for the ICD, the leads, and other components, and also specifies the optimal location for implantation of the ICD and its peripheral components. The optimal configuration may also specify the defibrillation wave form. Method and apparatus embodiments of the invention are provided.