Fibrillation/tachycardia monitoring and preventive system and methodology
View Patent ↗A cardiac assist device senses conditions of a heart and controls the generation of various electrical stimuli in response to sense conditions of the heart. The cardiac assist device generates a electrical pulse so as to defibrillate a fibrillated heart when the cardiac assist device determines from the sensed conditions a state of fibrillation. The cardiac assist device generates a chaos control electrical signal so as to bring a pre-fibrillated heart condition back into a normal beating condition when the cardiac assist device determines from the sensed conditions a pre-state of fibrillation. Lastly, the cardiac assist device generates an electrical enhancement signal that causes a threshold of pacing cells in the heart to be exceeded in response to a subthreshold stimulus when the cardiac assist device determines from the sensed conditions a subthreshold pacing signal.
1. A cardiac assist device, comprising:
a primary device housing;
a sensor to sense conditions of a heart; and
a lead system to transmit and receive signals between the heart and said primary housing;
said primary device housing including,
a control circuit, in operative communication with said sensor, to control generation of various electrical stimuli in response to sense conditions of the heart,
a chaos control generator to generate a pre-fibrillation state electrical signal so as to bring a pre-fibrillated heart condition back into a normal beating condition when said control circuit determines from the sensed conditions a pre-state of fibrillation, and
a pacing environment enhancement generator to generate an electrical enhancement signal, said electrical enhancement signal effectively lowering a threshold for pacing the heart when said control circuit determines from the sensed conditions that a natural pacing signal of the heart has fallen below a threshold to trigger the heart to beat.
2. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said electrical enhancement signal comprises a noise signal.
3. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said electrical enhancement signal comprises a periodic signal.
4. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said electrical enhancement signal comprises a high frequency deterministic signal.
5. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said electrical enhancement signal comprises a randomly fluctuating intensity signal.
6. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said electrical enhancement signal comprises a randomly fluctuating frequency signal.
7. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said electrical enhancement signal is modulated in response to the sensed subthreshold pacing signal.
8. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said sensor comprises a two-dimensional high resolution touch sensitive patch attached to the heart to provide fast frames of pressure readings from a two-dimensional array of individual pressure sites.
9. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said sensor comprises a two-dimensional high resolution patch to measure, capacitively, a voltage waveform traveling across the heart.
10. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein said two-dimensional high resolution patch comprises a two-dimensional array of individual non-destructive floating -gate charge-sensing amplifiers.
11. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said primary device housing further includes a defibrillation circuit to generate a electrical pulse so as to defibrillate a fibrillated heart when said control circuit determines from the sensed conditions a state of fibrillation.
12. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said lead system comprises a fiber optic based communication system.
13. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said lead system comprises a plurality of electrical leads.
14. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein said plurality of electrical leads have a shielding therearound, said shielding preventing said electrical leads from conducting stray electromagnetic interference.
15. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 14 , wherein said shielding is a metallic sheath to prevent said electrical leads from conducting stray electromagnetic interference.
16. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 14 , wherein said shielding is a carbon composite sheath to prevent said electrical leads from conducting stray electromagnetic interference.
17. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 14 , wherein said shielding is a polymer composite sheath to prevent said electrical leads from conducting stray electromagnetic interference.
18. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein each electrical lead includes an electrical filter, said electrical filter removing stray electromagnetic interference from a signal being received from said electrical lead.
19. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 18 , wherein said plurality of electrical leads have a shielding the rearound, said shielding preventing said electrical leads from conducting stray electromagnetic interference.
20. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 19 , wherein said shielding is a carbon composite sheath to prevent said electrical leads from conducting stray electromagnetic interference.
21. The cardiac assist device as claimed in claim 19 , wherein said shielding is a polymer composite sheath to prevent said electrical leads from conducting stray electromagnetic interference.
22. A method for assisting a heart beat normally, comprising:
(a) sensing conditions of a heart;
(b) determining a state of the heart from the sensed conditions;
(c) generating pre-fibrillation state electrical signal so as to bring a pre-fibrillated heart condition back into a normal beating condition when the determined state of the heart is a pre-state of fibrillation, and
(d) generating an electrical enhancement signal, the electrical enhancement signal effectively lowering a threshold for pacing the heart when the determined state of the heart is a state associated with a natural pacing signal of the heart falling below a threshold to trigger the heart to beat.
23. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the electrical enhancement signal comprises a noise signal.
24. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the electrical enhancement signal comprises a periodic signal.
25. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the electrical enhancement signal comprises a high frequency deterministic signal.
26. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the electrical enhancement signal comprises a randomly fluctuating intensity signal.
27. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the electrical enhancement signal comprises a randomly fluctuating frequency signal.
28. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the electrical enhancement signal is modulated in response to the sensed subthreshold pacing signal.
29. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the conditions of the heart are sensed by measuring pressure waves upon a surface of the heart.
30. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the conditions of the heart are sensed by capacitively measuring a voltage waveform traveling across the heart.
31. The method as claimed in claim 22 , further comprising:
(e) generating a electrical pulse so as to defibrillate a fibrillated heart when the determined state of the heart is a state of fibrillation.