Abstract: A system for mechanically assisted insertion of an electrode includes: an insertion tool configured to insert the electrode into biological tissues; and a controller configured to control the insertion tool, in which the controller is further configured to select operating parameters comprising a maximum allowable force profile from a library of operating parameters, in which the maximum allowable force profile is generated from data recorded during a number of previous successful operations. Also, a method for insertion of a cochlear lead, includes: selecting operating parameters comprising a maximum allowable force profile from a library of operating parameters; inserting the cochlear lead while sensing real time force and position; and continuing the insertion while the real time force is below the maximum allowable force profile, in which the maximum allowable force profile is generated from data recorded during a number of previous successful operations.

Abstract: An implantable assembly is disclosed comprising a diode device charging assembly having the means for transferring thermal energy from a living organism to a diode device, means for creating electrical energy from said thermal energy, and means for charging an implantable device with said electrical current. The diode device of this invention is a thermotunneling or thermionic converter. In a preferred embodiment the electrodes of the diode device have been modified to reduce their work function by through the addition a periodically repeating structure comprised of one or more indentations of the dimensions so as to create de Broglie wave interference, leading to a change in electron work function. The implantable assembly utilizes a temperature difference in a body to efficiently generate energy to be harnessed by a wide range of devices.

Abstract: A system includes at least one first magnetic field sensor configured to measure first and second magnetic fields. The system also includes at least one second magnetic field sensor configured to measure the second magnetic field substantially without measuring the first magnetic field. The system further includes processing circuitry configured to perform signal cancellation to generate measurements of the first magnetic field and to generate an output based on the measurements of the first magnetic field. The sensors could represent magneto-electric sensors. The magneto-electric sensors could be configured to up-convert electrical signals associated with the first and/or second magnetic fields to a higher frequency. The processing circuitry could be configured to identify one or more problems associated with a patient's heart.

Abstract: A cardiac assist device (100) comprises a stent 103, 403) which is implantable into a blood vessel of a patient. The stent (103, 403) encloses an inner volume (119, 419). At least one inflatable element (104, 409-413) is attached to the stent (103). The at least one inflatable element (104, 409-413) is provided in the inner volume (119, 419) of the stent (103, 403), wherein the ai least one inflatable element (104, 409-413) annularly encloses a central opening (118, 418) being parallel to a longitudinal axis of said stent (103, 403). The cardiac assist device (100) further comprises a fluid supply adapted for periodically inflating and deflating the at least one inflatable element (104, 409-413), wherein said fluid supply comprises at least one fluid supply line (105, 405) connectable to the at least one inflatable element (104, 409-413) and implantable into a blood vessel of the patient.

Abstract: A therapy program is modified to decompose a therapy field generated by therapy delivery by a medical device according to a therapy program into a plurality of subfields based on a comparison between an energy associated with the therapy program and a threshold value. The therapy field defined by the therapy program may be decomposed into a plurality of subfields when an electrical stimulation energy of the stimulation signal defined by the therapy program exceeds the maximum energy output of the medical device or of a channel of the medical device. Therapy subprograms may be generated for each of the therapy subfields. An energy associated with each of the therapy subfields may be less than the energy threshold value of the medical device.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to systems and methods for treating respiratory or pulmonary medical conditions by neuromodulation of a target site of the sympathetic nervous system and preferably a target site in communication with a sympathetic nerve chain. A system for treating a respiratory or pulmonary medical condition incorporating a closed-loop feedback system is also provided.

Abstract: A generator for an implantable cardiac prosthesis, having a safekeeping mode of operation during an exposure to a magnetic field. The generator is connected to a lead including a first conductor (18) connected to a distal electrode (14), and a second conductor (20) connected to a proximal electrode (16). The generator to which the lead is connected includes a switch that temporarily switches to the potential of the metal housing of the generator (i.e., the ground potential) a first terminal connection (26) coupled to the external conductor (20) of the lead, and connects to the electronic circuit of detection/stimulation a second terminal connection (24) coupled to the internal conductor (18) of the lead.

Abstract: A cannula for a patient includes an elongate body having a length of at least 70 cm and a channel extending through the body defining a wall. The cannula includes a wire embodied within at least a portion of the wall. The body has a proximal end, a distal end having a tip opening through which the channel extends and a plurality of side holes through the wall in proximity to the tip for unimpeded flow of blood at the distal end. The cannula includes a barbed fitting at the proximal end. The cannula includes a suture wing for securing the elongated body to the patient. A system for assisting a patient's heart. A method for assisting a patient's heart.

Abstract: A cannula for implantation into a chamber of a heart includes an elongate body having a lumen extending along a longitudinal axis, a first end, and a second end. The first and second ends define openings into the lumen and the second end includes a flat portion. A flared tip portion extends from the flat portion of the second end in a direction toward the first end, and flares radially outward from the longitudinal axis and in such direction. A ring member extends around the axis of the elongate body and is spaced from the flared tip portion, and the ring member is adapted for retaining the elongate body in a position relative to a wall of the chamber. An embodiment of a flared tip portion may further include a barbed surface configured to contact tissue around an aperture in the wall of the heart when the cannula travels through the aperture.

Abstract: An implantable medical device includes a housing component comprising a flexure; and a ceramic feedthrough attached to the flexure such that the flexure reduces transmission of forces from housing component to the ceramic feedthrough. According to one illustrative embodiment, the implantable medical device is a cochlear implant which includes a titanium feedthrough case made up of a body portion and a flexure; and a ceramic feedthrough being hermetically joined to the flexure by an active braze, the flexure reducing transmission of forces from the titanium feedthrough case to the ceramic feedthrough.

Abstract: Systems and methods for providing targeted neural stimulation therapy to address neurological disorders, including neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological disorders are disclosed. A method for treating a patient's neurological disorder in accordance with a particular embodiment includes, in a patient identified as having at least one of a neuropsychological disorder and a neuropsychiatric disorder, implanting at least one stimulation electrode within the patient's skull cavity, and outside a cortical surface of the patient's brain. The electrode is implanted at a location in a range of about 15 mm to about 35 mm anterior to a precentral sulcus reference point that is positioned at the precentral sulcus and at the patient's middle frontal gyrus. The method can further include treating the patient's disorder by applying electrical stimulation to the patient via the at least one stimulation electrode.

Abstract: This disclosure is directed to extra, intra, and transvascular medical lead placement techniques for arranging medical leads and electrical stimulation and/or sensing electrodes proximate nerve tissue within a patient.

Abstract: Systems, methods and devices for monitoring, analyzing, and processing a patient's heart rate signal for HRV characteristics are described herein. A first heart rate signal is acquired. The first heart rate signal includes at least one indication of an interval duration of cardiac activity. At least one accelerating portion and at least one decelerating portion of the first heart rate signal are identified. An average heart rate signal is acquired. The accelerating portion or the decelerating portion of the first heart rate signal is replaced with the average heart rate signal to produce a second heart rate signal. A frequency spectrum of the second heart rate signal may be obtained and utilized to predict or detect one or more autonomic conditions of a patient. Therapy may initiated or titrated in response to prediction or detection of the autonomic condition.

Abstract: The disclosure is directed towards posture-responsive therapy. To avoid interruptions in effective therapy, an implantable medical device may include a posture state module that detects the posture state of the patient and automatically adjusts therapy parameter values according to the detected posture state. A system may include an external programmer comprising a user interface that receives user input defining therapy parameter values for delivery of therapy to a patient, and user input associating one or more of the therapy parameter values with a plurality of posture states based on user input, a processor that automatically defines therapy parameter values for delivery of therapy to a patient when the patient occupies the posture states based on the association, and an implantable medical device that delivers the therapy to the patient in response to detection of the posture states.

Abstract: An electrical interferential device comprises a circuit for delivering electrical interferential energy into the body of a patient. A sensor detects a function of the autonomic nervous system of the patient and provides an output indicative of the response of the autonomic nervous system to the electrical interferential energy. A treatment regimen is selected which uses a combination of carrier and beat frequencies and electrode placement pattern that produce a desired response in the autonomic nervous system of the patient. In one embodiment of the invention, a diagnostic tool is used to determine which combination of carrier and beat frequencies are desirable and treatment is provided by a second electrical interferential device. In another embodiment of the invention, the same diagnostic tool or a portion of the same diagnostic tool may be used to treat the patient.

Abstract: An adaptive dual chamber pacemaker and/or cardioverter defibrillator for delivering ventricular stimulation to the heart correlated with hemodynamic performance of the heart, including a hemodynamic sensor for monitoring the hemodynamic performance of the heart, an atrial electrode and a ventricular electrode for sensing ventricular and atrial signals, and a learning module having a spiking neural network processor for learning to associate the ventricular-atrial intervals sensed by the electrodes with the hemodynamic performance sensed by the hemodynamic sensor, calculating ventricular-atrial intervals, replacing the ventricular-atrial intervals calculated from the sensed ventricular and atrial signals with the learned associated ventricular-atrial intervals, and causing delivery according to the learned associated ventricular-atrial intervals of a ventricular stimulation to the heart during atrial fibrillation episodes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus utilizing a piecewise stitching adaptive algorithm (PSAA) to filter signal artifacts, such as those induced by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from sensed signals in real-time. PSAA is a method of estimating artifact component present in a first signal that is highly correlated with a second signal. The PSAA may utilize autocorrelation and cross-correlation calculations to determine signal sample windows in the first and second signals. The PSAA may estimate a signal artifact in a primary signal segment based on the determined correlations between the primary signal and an artifact signal. The PSAA may remove the estimated signal artifact from the primary signal. In the absence of an artifact signal, PSAA is able to estimate artifacts in the first signal utilizing filters. The PSAA may be implemented in Automated External Defibrillators, Monitor Defibrillators or other devices capable sensing highly correlated signals such as, for example, ECG and CPR signals.

Abstract: A method and associated system for use of statistical parameters based on peak amplitudes and/or time interval lengths and/or depolarization-repolarization vector angles and/or depolarization-repolarization vector lengths for PQRST electrical signals associated with heart waves, to identify a person. The statistical parameters, estimated to be at least 192, serve as biometric indicia, to authenticate, or to decline to authenticate, an asserted identity of a candidate person.

Abstract: A system and method of operating an implant system having an external portion and an implanted portion. The external portion includes a first magnet and a power signal transmission module for transmitting an electrical power signal across the skin of a user. The implanted portion including a second magnet, a receiver module for receiving the power signal across the skin of a user, a Hall Sensor, a switch, and a battery. The method includes externally orientating and/or positioning the first magnet in a first arrangement, such that the external portion is held in place on the user based substantially on a magnetic force between the first magnet and the second magnet, and such that the power signal transmission module is aligned with the receiver module and the receiver module receives the power signal. The first magnet is orientated and/or positioned in a second arrangement, such that the first magnet applies a magnetic field that is sensed by the Hall Sensor.

Abstract: A method is provided for the suppression or prevention of pain, movement disorders, epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, sleep disorders, autonomic disorders, abnormal metabolic states, disorders of the muscular system, and neuropsychiatric disorders in a patient. The method comprises inserting an electrode into a patient. The electrode can be positioned on or proximate to a neural structure, and the electrode can detect an ENG signal. In some embodiments, the neural structure can be the patient's sphenopalatine ganglia (“SPG”), sphenopalatine nerves (“SPN”), or vidian nerves (“VN”). Placement of the electrode can be tested by detecting a characteristic ENG. If the characteristic ENG indicates that the electrode is not positioned on the target neural structure, the electrode can be repositioned.