Abstract: A system for assisted breathing has a ventilator delivers a breathing gas to a living creature in order to facilitate, support and/or control the breathing of the living creature. The respiratory musculature is weakened during treatment with a ventilator, long-term treatment in particular, and this results in longer treatment times, especially weaning times. Accordingly, a stimulation apparatus, devised for connection to the living creature, is incorporated into the system for assisted breathing in order to stimulate the respiratory nervous system and/or respiratory musculature of the living creature. Weakening of the respiratory musculature can be reduced by the stimulation apparatus emitting a stimulation signal at specific intervals.

Abstract: A device for detecting a state of imminent cardiac arrhythmia, relative to a normal state for a heart, in response to activity in nerve signals conveying information from the autonomic nerve system to the heart, contains a sensor body for sensing neural activity, a comparator with a threshold value forming a condition for the presence of an arrhythmia, the comparator emitting an arrhythmia-indicating output signal depending on whether neural activity meets the condition, and the sensor body being placeable in an extracardiac position for at least one of the sympathetic and vagus nerves. The sensor body directly senses activity in the nerve at that location in direct contact with the nerve. An implanted blood pressure sensing cuff also can be provided which generates signals indicative of blood pressure which can be evaluated in combination with the nerve signals for identifying the state of imminent cardiac arrhythmia.

Abstract: A device for heart therapy has a tacharrythmia detector unit, a control unit and a current generator. The current generator controlled by the control unit emits via an electrode system a first, pulsed current to a physiological representative of the parasympathetic nervous system in order to activate same in response to detection of an impending or established arrhythmia. The current generator is further caused by the control unit, in the event of tachyarrythmia detection to emit, via the electrode system, a second current to a physiological representative of the sympathetic nervous system in order to block same.