Abstract: An implantable lead for delivering electrical stimuli to a human heart has a stimulating electrode for transmitting electrical stimuli to the myocardium after implantation, and a mapping electrode for use during implantation. The mapping electrode is configured to deliver electrical stimuli to the heart and to sense intrinsic cardiac activity, for the purpose of finding a suitable fixation position in the myocardium. During the implantation procedure, the mapping electrode is electrically connected to the conductor. The lead is configured to electrically disconnect the mapping electrode from the conductor after a suitable fixation position has been determined.

Abstract: The present invention relates in general to methodologies for the treatment quenching preconditioning and communication between the intrinsic cardiac nervous system and an electrical stimulus. In particular, the present invention utilizes spinal cord stimulation to alter and/or affect the intrinsic cardiac nervous system and thereby protect the myocytes, stabilize myocardial electrical instability and/or alleviate or diminish cardiac pathologies.

Abstract: Systems and methods for patient interactive neural stimulation and/or chemical substance delivery are disclosed. A method in accordance with one embodiment of the invention includes affecting a target neural population of the patient by providing to the patient at least one of an electromagnetic signal and a chemical substance. The method can further include detecting at least one characteristic of the patient, with the characteristic at least correlated with the patient's performance of an adjunctive therapy task that is performed in association with affecting the target neural population. The method can still further include controlling at least one parameter in accordance with which the target neural population is affected, based at least in part on the detected characteristic.

Abstract: Techniques for increasing the safety of medical device programming using general purpose hardware, such as a general purpose personal computer, are described. Some embodiments include a watchdog module that is serviced by the general purpose hardware, a mediator module that monitors programming instructions from the general purpose hardware, and/or a safe mode input that may be activated by a user. In some embodiments, a system comprises an implantable medical device, an intermediate device, a computing device that communicates with the implantable medical device via the intermediate device. The intermediate device may provide any one or more of the safety measures described above. In some embodiments, the intermediate device is dedicated hardware, and critical programming functions are provided by the intermediate device, rather than the general purpose hardware.

Abstract: A device for altering cardiac performance includes an energy absorbing element which absorbs cardiac pumping energy from at least a portion of the heart. The energy may be delivered to another part of the body, such as another portion of the heart, to perform useful work such as providing blood pumping assistance.

Abstract: An apparatus comprises a first impedance sensing circuit, a second sensing circuit, and an impedance-based cardiac dyssynchrony detector. The impedance sensing circuit senses an intracardiac local impedance signal that is indicative of a cardiac local wall motion of a first cardiac region from an implantable first bipolar pair of impedance sensing electrodes. The second sensing circuit is configured to produce a second sensor signal indicative of cardiovascular activity. The impedance-based cardiac dyssynchrony detector is configured for detecting cardiac dyssynchrony using a relationship between the first intracardiac local impedance signal and the second sensor signal. Other apparatuses and methods are disclosed.

Abstract: An article comprising a drive cable suitable for high-speed operation in an anatomy having small-radii bends is disclosed. The drive cables disclosed herein include one or more physical adaptations that enable them to be “tuned” to avoid large amplitude vibrations during operation.

Abstract: An implantable medical device and associated method for automatically generating morphology templates during fast cardiac rhythms, confirming a provisional template as a confirmed template, and using the confirmed template to classify subsequent detected arrhythmias. A provisional SVT template may be created during a fast ventricular rate and activated as a confirmed SVT template upon verification that the fast rate was due to an SVT. The confirmed SVT template may be used to discriminate SVT from VT/VF.

Abstract: A cochlear implant electrode assembly device (10) comprising an elongate electrode carrier member (11), a stiffening element (15), and a stiffening sheath (16) that at least partially envelops the elongate member (11). The member (11) is made of a resiliently flexible first material and has a plurality of electrodes (12) mounted thereon. The member (11) has a first configuration that allows it to be inserted into an implantee's cochlea (30). The member (11) also has a second configuration wherein the member is curved to match an inside surface of the cochlea (30), and at least one intermediate configuration between the first and second configurations. Both the stiffening element (15) and sheath (16) are made of a material that is relatively stiffer than the member (11). The stiffening element (15) and the stiffening sheath (16) in combination bias the elongate member (11) into the first configuration.

Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention takes masking effects into consideration when determining stimulations signals for neural stimulation. These masking effects may be modeled using user-specific models determined by taking measurements for an implant system of an implant recipient. Or, the model may correspond to a group of individuals sharing a common characteristic or the population as a whole. These models may be, for example, psycho-physical or electrophysiological models.

Abstract: A method and system for setting the operating parameters of a cardiac rhythm management device in which a plurality of parameter optimization algorithms are available. A measured feature of an electrophysiological signal such as QRS width has been shown to be useful in selecting among certain parameter optimization algorithms. In one embodiment, one or more resynchronization pacing parameters are set based on one or both of the feature extracted from an electrogram signal and the value of a resynchronization pacing parameter which tends to minimize the intrinsic atrial rate.

Abstract: Devices and methods of use are provided for treating a person having a hypoglossal nerve and an upper airway. In one embodiment, a method may include providing a nerve cuff electrode including a cylindrical cuff body. The method may further include chronically implanting the nerve cuff electrode on a portion of the hypoglossal nerve. The method may also include delivering a stimulus to the hypoglossal nerve via the nerve cuff electrode to mitigate obstruction of the upper airway.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing an implantable electrical medical device includes forming a conductive substrate, placing the conductive substrate in a deposition chamber; and forming a conformal coating over the conductive substrate using atomic layer deposition. In various embodiments, the conformal coating is a conductive coating and in other embodiments the conformal coating is a dielectric coating.

Abstract: An axial flow rotary blood pump including an impeller (5) adapted to be magnetically rotated within a housing by the interaction of magnets disposed on or in the impeller and stators disposed on or in the housing. The impeller includes at least one support ring (2) supporting a plurality of blades (4), and a hydrodynamic bearing (3) that operates at least axially and radially in respect of an axis of rotation of the impeller (5).

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for recognizing and measuring heartbeat in physical training, in which method individual heartbeats are recognized and measured from the electrical signal of the heart, the EKG signal, on the area of waist and/or on the body area below the waist by means of two or more electrodes (2, 3) integrated to an outfit (1) or to a part of an outfit, and/or by means of two or more electrodes integrated to one or several wearable sensors, and for calculating various quantities describing the function of the heart. In the method in accordance with the invention, for recognizing and measuring heartbeat, the signals received from the heart are processed and examined with two or more different ways for improving the reliability of calculation and for decreasing the impact of noises.

Abstract: An implantable fixation structure includes at least one implantable holding element. The holding element is connected to an implantable cochlear implant element and maintains the cochlear implant element in a desired position relative to the middle ear of a patient user.

Abstract: Leads and introduction tools are proposed for deep brain stimulation and other applications. Some embodiments of the present invention provide lead designs with which may be placed with a stylet, while others do not require a stylet. Some lead embodiments use standard wire conductors, while others use cable conductors. Several embodiments incorporate microelectrodes and/or microelectrode assemblies. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide introduction tools, such as cannula and/or cannula systems, which ensure proper placement of, e.g., leads.

Abstract: An insertion device (10), by which a medical instrument or an electrode line or a guide wire or a medical therapeutic agent may be inserted into a body cavity, comprises a lumen section (11) manufactured from a flexible plastic material, having a longitudinal axis, a proximal end and a distal end, and a distal end area enclosing the distal end, at least one electrically conductive means (20) in the distal end area to sense physiological signals or stimulate the surrounding body tissue suitably, as well as at least one conductor, which extends from the proximal end to the distal end and is capable of conducting physiological signals to the proximal end and/or stimulation pulses to the distal end. The at least one electrically conductive means is produced from a flexible, not exclusively metallic, electrically conductive substrate.

Abstract: The muscle training apparatus includes: conductors to be mounted on a body of a user; an operation section for receiving an instruction from the user; a memory section for storing a current-and-frequency-correlation data which indicates a relationship between a magnitude of an electrical stimulation signal and a supply frequency of the electrical stimulation signal; a control section for determining the supply frequency based on the magnitude of the electrical stimulation signal input from the operation section, and the current-and-frequency-correlation data; and an electrical stimulation output section for generating the electrical stimulation signal based on the magnitude of the electrical stimulation signal and the supply frequency of the electrical stimulation signal which are instructed by the control section, and generating an interference wave by providing the electrical stimulation signal to the body of the user via the conductors.

Abstract: A method for inferring disease similarity by similarity retrieval of electrocardiogram time-series, comprising: acquiring user ECG waveforms correspondingly depicting many cardiac cycles of the heart of many users stored in a database; pre-processing each of the user ECG waveforms through pre-processing steps to isolate sets of single cardiac cycles corresponding to different heart-rates detected for each of the user ECG waveforms, each single cardiac cycle within the many cardiac cycles of the heart of many users corresponds to one single heart-rate detected.