Implantable medical device with multi-vector sensing electrodes

Details Implantable medical device with multi-vector sensing electrodes Implantable medical device with multi-vector sensing electrodes

2001-03-01

2004-03-02

Denion, Thomas (Department: 3742)

Surgery

Diagnostic testing

Cardiovascular

C128S899000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06699200

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to implantable medical devices. Specifically, the invention relates to an Insertable Loop Recorder (ILR) for sensing physiologic signals with minimal intrusion into a patient's body. More specifically, the invention relates to a geometrically optimized space-volume efficient device adapted for ease of deployment in small incisions in the patient's body. The geometry and structure of the ILR is also adapted for optimal distribution of electrodes configured an enhanced for multi-vector sensing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Syncopal episodes and cardiac arrhythmias are particularly problematic for diagnostic physicians to observe in real time in their patients. These events can be of short duration and sudden onset, and may occur very infrequently. Holter monitors are well known in the art for continuously monitoring electrocardiograms over a 24 or 48-hour period of time. These monitors, however, are bulky and when, applied externally to the body, interfere with the patient's normal life, making them impractical for long-term use. Further, patient compliance cannot always be guaranteed, and is a common problem in their use. Problems with these and other external monitors and associated recorders also include the inability of some patients to tolerate the attendant skin irritation. Removal of these devices may be needed for example, for showering or to conduct other daily activities. All these problems come into focus any time a patient needs long-term monitoring to detect a non-physiologic episode (whether intermittent, infrequent, or both), all these problems come into focus.
Many attempts have been made to address some of these problems only with limited success. One approach is disclosed in the Mills, et al patents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,333,616; 5,289,824 and 5,111,396) for a wrist-worn monitor for ECG's which include features for patient triggering and microprocessor determination of event types (QRS detection). Wrist-worn devices are also shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,226,425 and 5,365,935, issued to Righter. Further, Jacobsen, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,645 describes multiple resolution storage for ECG's and Snell's U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,001 generally describes a patient-triggered recording device with multiple sensors. The Yomatov patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,411,031 and 5,313,953, appear to focus on beat-to-beat timing records and suggest the use of an arrhythmia detector, as well as the possibility of leadless electrodes for monitoring cardiac signals. Examples of an external monitor/recorder can be found in Segalowitz' patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,553, and Salo's U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,717. Another well-known event recorder is the “King of Hearts™” that records both pre- and post-episode data.
Monitoring of physiologic data can be conducted using implantable pulse generators or devices with leads in the heart for capturing cardiac data, including ECG. However, the expense and risk of implanting an intracardiac lead and/or a pacemaker with special monitoring functions is something both patients and physicians would prefer to avoid. Such devices, in addition to performing therapeutic operations, may monitor and transmit cardiac electrical signals (e.g., intracardiac electrograms, or EGMs) from the leads fixed in the patient's heart. It is generally common for implanted cardiac stimulation devices to send the EGM signals to a monitoring device, such as an external programmer, to allow a physician or other medical expert to analyze the heart's activity.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,678, entitled
Arrhythmia Recorder for Use with an Implantable Defibrillator
, issued to Langer et al., discloses an arrhythmia record/playback component within an implantable defibrillator. ECG data is converted from analog to digital (A/D) form and stored in a first-in, first-out memory. When the defibrillator detects an arrhythmia episode, it disables the memory so that no further ECG data is recorded in the memory until a command is received from an external monitoring device. This command requests the implantable defibrillator to transmit the stored ECG data to the monitoring device via telemetry. Langer et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,288, discloses a programmable, microprocessor-based implantable defibrillator that senses and loads ECG data into a memory via a direct memory access operation. A processor analyzes this ECG data in the memory to detect the occurrence of an arrhythmia episode. Upon detection, the defibrillator may generate a therapy to terminate the arrhythmia episode and store the ECG data sequence of the episode for transmission to an external monitoring device and later study. In normal circumstances, when no arrhythmia episode is occurring, the defibrillator continuously overwrites the ECG data in the memory.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,063, to D. L. Thompson et al, teaches a pulse interval telemetry system capable of transmitting analog data, such as sensed EGM signals, without converting analog data to a digital numeric value. The Thompson et al. telemetry system is capable of sequentially transmitting both digital and analog data, individually and serially, in either an analog or a digital format, to a remote receiver. The features and capabilities of these pacemaker/defibrillator devices are well known, but the problems in long-term monitoring and recording of such episodes remain.
In the December 1992 Vol. 15 edition of PACE (15:588), a feasibility study was reported on implantable arrhythmia monitors and described in an article by Leitch et al. Then, at a chaired poster presentation of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (NASPE), titled
Subcutaneous, Bipolar “Pseudo
-
ECG” Recordings using an Implantable Monitoring System
, an implantable monitoring system was described using a pacemaker that had been altered to use a point on the pacemaker casing as one electrode with a second electrode mounted on the connector block.
Further, a leadless implantable sensor for cardiac emergency warning is described in U.S. Pat No. 5,404,877 issued to Nolan et al. that detects heart events through impedance measurement that are sensed via a coil. See also Yomato et al, U.S. Pat. No.5,313,953 that discloses a large but leadless implant.
With sufficient hardware and connections to the body, numerous other physiologic parameters may be sensed as is pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,434 issued to Alt and U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,431 issued to Adams et al.
The Klein patent ('352), however, discloses the need for minimally intrusive long-term monitoring of a patient's non-physiologic episodes and their status. The '352 patent primarily relates to patients with cardiac arrhythmias and vasovagal syncope to provide sufficient evidence for diagnostic purposes and for research into the causes and effects of such episodes. Patients have come to accept long-term implants of these devices for the past number of years.
Using the ILRs, a cardiologist can use the ECG data as a guide for further therapy to match a patient's changing conditions to monitor either improvements or alterations of medical conditions. Such information can also be especially useful to the cardiologist in adjusting antiarrhythmic drug therapy to maximize the therapy and minimize side effects. Hence, the implantable cardiac patient monitor (ILR) of the '352 invention has proved capable of providing the cardiologist with heart rhythm information not previously available in the prior art.
An ILR, as currently configured, may be defined as an implantable, single use, programmable device for continuous recording of a patient's subcutaneous ECG during symptomatic and asymptomatic episodes. Most ILRs are small implantable devices that use material commonly used in the fabrication of other implantable devices, such as titanium. Typically, the dimensions will approximate 19 mm (h), 61 mm (L), and 8 mm (w).
During the implant the physician must consider a pocket site that will provide the patient

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