Surgery: light, thermal, and electrical application inventions 12/08

20080319493 - Biocompatible electroplated interconnection bonding method and electronics package suitable for implantation: The invention is directed to a method of bonding a hermetically sealed electronics package to an electrode or a flexible circuit and the resulting electronics package that is suitable for implantation in living tissue, such as for a retinal or cortical electrode array to enable restoration of sight to certain... Agent: Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.

20080319492 - Multi-channel electrostimulation apparatus and method: A therapeutic electrostimulation apparatus and method operates to supply electrostimulation signals to three channels. The basic electrostimulation signal for each of the channels is the same; and this signal is applied to a transcranial electrostimulation set of output electrodes. A second channel provided with the same signal is further operated... Agent: Lavalle D. Ptak

20080319494 - System and method for preventing recurrence of atrial tachyarrhythmia: A system and method for providing pacing pulses after a cardioversion/defibrillation shock, where the pacing pulses have a pacing rate at an initial value. The pacing rate is decreased from the initial value until at least one intrinsic cardiac contraction is detected. In one embodiment, the pacing rate is decreased... Agent: Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner/bsc-crm

20080319496 - Endocardial pacing devices and methods useful for resynchronization and defibrillation: According to one aspect, various methods and apparatus are used for modifying cardiac operation, for treating a condition of a patient's heart, and for monitoring cardiac operation. In one approach consistent therewith, an electrode arrangement (including at least one electrode) is placed in a right ventricle (“RV”) of the heart.... Agent: Crawford Maunu PLLC

20080319495 - External defibrillator having a ceramic storage capacitor and energy conditioning circuit: An external defibrillator for providing a defibrillating pulse to a patient includes a ceramic storage capacitor an d an energy conditioning circuit. A charging circuit coupled to the ceramic storage capacitor electrically charges the ceramic storage capacitor, which has an electrical discharge characteristic. The energy conditioning circuit coupled to the... Agent: Philips Medical Systems Philips Intellectual Property & Standards

20080319497 - Architectures for an implantable medical device system: An improved architecture for an implantable medical device such as an implantable pulse generator (IPG) is disclosed. In one embodiment, the various functional blocks for the IPG are incorporated into a signal integrated circuit (IC). Each of the functional blocks communicate with each other, and with other off-chip devices if... Agent: Wong, Cabello, Lutsch, Rutherfor & Brucculer L.l.p

20080319498 - Apparatus and method for detecting diastolic heart failure: In a method and implantable medical apparatus for detecting diastolic heart failure (DHF), and a pacemaker embodying such an apparatus, movement of the valve plane of the heart is measured and analyzed to identify a slowing of the movement of the valve plane as an indication of a DHF state... Agent: Schiff Hardin, LLP Patent Department

20080319499 - Devices and methods for steering electrical stimulation in cardiac rhythm management: Tools and methods are particularly suited for certain cardiac conditions involving use of a catheter for pacing of the right and left ventricles from a lead in the right ventricle, e.g., to facilitate mechanically and/or electrically synchronous contractions for resynchronization. Certain aspects involve pacing and/or mapping by delivering pulses to... Agent: Crawford Maunu PLLC

20080319501 - Systems, devices and methods for monitoring efficiency of pacing: Various systems, methods, devices and arrangements are implemented for use in pacing of the heart. One implementation is directed to methods and systems for determining a pacing location in the right ventricle of a heart and near the His bundle. A pacing signal is delivered to the location in the... Agent: Crawford Maunu PLLC

20080319500 - Systems, devices and methods relating to endocardial pacing for resynchronization: Tools and methods are particularly suited for certain cardiac conditions advantaged by pacing of the right and left ventricles from a lead in the right ventricle, e.g., to facilitate mechanically and/or electrically synchronous contractions for resynchronization. Certain aspects involve pacing and/or mapping by delivering pulses to a cardiac site useful... Agent: Crawford Maunu PLLC

20080319502 - Cardiac pacing system and distributed cardiac pacing system: A micro integrated cardiac pacemaker includes a control unit for outputting a control signal according to cardiograph information, heart stimulating means for stimulating heart tissue in response to the control signal, cardiograph information extracting means for extracting cardiograph information and outputting it to the control unit, and a power supply... Agent: Brown & Michaels, PC 400 M & T Bank Building

20080319503 - Bipolar lead containing hv and lv signal capability: An implantable medical device system includes a medical electrical lead having a connector assembly and a connector bore for receiving the lead connector assembly. The lead includes a distal portion having a first outer diameter and a distal sealing member, an intermediate portion having a second outer diameter smaller than... Agent: Medtronic, Inc.

20080319504 - Device for electrically and mechanically stimulating a compartment in a body: A device is provided for stimulating select body tissues and organs from within a compartment in a body. The device includes a tube having a distal end, a proximal end and a plurality of lumens. At least one distendable element is located along and coupled to the tube in closer... Agent: Westman Champlin & Kelly, P.A.

20080319505 - Integrated transcranial current stimulation and electroencephalography device: In an integrated transcranial current stimulation and electroencephalography device, data obtained by EEG electrodes is received, amplified, converted, and then processed by a microcontroller that extracts frequency information from the sampled data and produces signals in response to the extracted EEG data. These signals are converted to create a software-definable... Agent: Norma E Henderson Henderson Patent Law

20080319506 - Grooved electrode and wireless microtransponder system: A grooved electrode adapted for interfacing cellular matter is provided. The grooved electrode includes grooves adapted for electrically interfacing the grooved electrode with cellular matter growing along the body of the grooved electrode. Further, the grooved electrode includes a wireless transponder adapted to electrically interface with cellular matter and to... Agent: Groover & Associates

20080319507 - Tissue treatment device and method of restricting use of device: Embodiments include electromagnetic energy-based tissue treatment devices which comprise biometric sensors in combination with memory storing biometric data from authorized treatment providers, and methods of restricting use of the devices based on comparing biometric data from potential treatment providers to the stored biometric data from authorized treatment providers. Delivery of... Agent: Reliant / Fenwick C/o Fenwick & West, LLP

20080319508 - Automatic determination of the threshold of an evoked neural response: Automatically analysing an evoked neural response. The method comprises: applying electrical stimulation to a target neural region at incrementally greater current levels beginning with an initial current level that is as close as possible to a typical threshold-NRT level; recording an NRT measurement of an auditory signal which generated by... Agent: Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz LLP

20080319509 - Binaural stimulation in neural auditory prostheses or hearing aids: The present invention discloses of binaural stimulation in a neural auditory prosthesis. Binaural acoustic signals are generated that represent sound associated with a user's left and right ears respectively. Based on the binaural acoustic signals, corresponding binaural stimulation signals are generated for electrical stimulation of auditory nerve tissue of the... Agent: Bromberg & Sunstein LLP

20080319511 - Auto adjusting system for brain tissue stimulator: An implantable neurostimulator for treating disorders such as epilepsy, pain, movement disorders and depression includes a detection subsystem capable of detecting a physiological condition and a therapy subsystem capable of providing a course of therapy in response to the condition. The therapy subsystem includes an auto-adjust module for automatically adjusting... Agent: Neuropace, Inc.

20080319510 - Medical device access control apparatus and method: A method and apparatus for providing access control to a medical device. A control device may be attached to the medical device to regulate power flow to the medical device and monitor usage of the device. The control device may accept removable media and read information from the media. The... Agent: Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP

20080319512 - Apparatus, system, and method for transcutaneously transferring energy: An apparatus for transcutaneously transferring an amount of energy to an implantable orthopaedic device includes a primary coil. The primary coil has a resonant frequency matched to a resonant frequency of a secondary coil, which may form part of the implantable orthopaedic device. The primary coil may have an aperture... Agent: Barnes & Thornburg LLP

20080319513 - Neural stimulation with respiratory rhythm management: A system embodiment comprises at least one respiration sensor, a neural stimulation therapy delivery module, and a controller. The respiration sensor is adapted for use in monitoring respiration of the patient. The neural stimulation therapy delivery module is adapted to generate a neural stimulation signal for use in stimulating the... Agent: Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, P.A.

20080319514 - Techniques for sensing and adjusting a compliance voltage in an implantable stimulator device: Disclosed herein are methods and circuitry for monitoring and adjusting a compliance voltage in an implantable stimulator devices to an optimal value that is sufficiently high to allow for proper circuit performance (i.e., sufficient current output), but low enough that power is not needlessly wasted via excessive voltage drops across... Agent: Wong, Cabello, Lutsch, Rutherfor & Brucculer L.l.p

20080319515 - Process for reducing neuromuscular fatigue caused by exercise: A process for reducing neuromuscular fatigue caused by exercise comprises applying an anodal trans-cranial direct current stimulation over the right motor cortex of a person.... Agent: Pearne & Gordon LLP

20080319517 - Alteration of the skin and nail for the prevention and treatment of skin and nail infections: The method of prevention and treatment of microbial infections that occur on, or just below, the skin and nails of a person consisting of applying a means to inactivate the microbes thus rendering them harmless. The treatment consists of applying a means which alters the skin or nail so that... Agent: Merek, Blackmon & Voorhees, LLC

20080319516 - Use of electromagnetic radiation in the treatment of sensory organs: A method of using and devices for delivering electromagnetic radiation of a selected wavelength for the treatment of conditions pertaining to cephalic sensory organs, in particular to treating conditions of the eye (ocular conditions) and conditions pertaining to the ear (otic conditions). The invention is in particular for the treatment... Agent: Myers Bigel Sibley & Sajovec

20080319518 - Charged particle generator and functional fabric having a charged particle emission function: Provided are a charged particle generator that continually generates large quantities of charged particles as a result of temperature dependent excitation, functional fibers comprising composite carbon particles, having SP3 and SP2 structures, and a healthcare device that can increase the effect of penetration of the human body by charged particles... Agent: Oblon, Spivak, Mcclelland Maier & Neustadt, P.C.

20080319519 - Method and device for patient temperature control employing optimized rewarming: Embodiments of the invention provide a system for temperature control of the human body. The system includes an indwelling catheter with a tip-mounted heat transfer element. The catheter is fluidically coupled to a console that provides a heated or cooled heat transfer working fluid to exchange heat with the heat... Agent: Mayer & Williams PC

20080319520 - Endocardial lead: A device terminating a distal end of a cardiac stimulator lead for transmitting electrical signals from a pacemaker to a location within a heart for stimulating cardiac tissue of the heart said device comprising an electrically conductive helix configured to interact with said cardiac tissue by attachment to said cardiac... Agent: Schiff Hardin, LLP Patent Department

20080312707 - Implantable medical device with polymer-polymer interfaces and methods of manufacture and use: An implantable stimulator that includes a housing, a first plastic component, and a second plastic component, where the first and second plastic components form a polymer-polymer interface. A light absorbing metal layer is disposed over at least a portion of the interface and an electronic subassembly is disposed within the... Agent: Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp. C/o Darby & Darby P.C.

20080312708 - Automatic external defibrillator with increased cpr administration time: An automated external defibrillator (AED) is described which spends an increased proportion of a rescue in a CPR mode. This is accomplished by use of a single shock protocol which causes the AED to spend less time in shock analysis and delivery activities as compared with the typical multiple shock... Agent: Philips Medical Systems Philips Intellectual Property & Standards

20080312709 - Wearable medical treatment device with motion/position detection: A wearable defibrillator consists of a vest (or belt) which is worn by the patient. The device monitors the patient's ECG with sensing electrodes and can monitor other patient conditions and in appropriate cases can treat certain conditions. An accelerometer(s) in the wearable defibrillator can allow for the device to... Agent: Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

20080312710 - Implantable cardiac device providing intrinsic conduction search with premature atrial contraction protection and method: The extended AV interval of an auto intrinsic conduction search of an implantable cardiac stimulation device has premature atrial contraction protection. A timer times a base AV interval and the extended AV interval. If the heart is paced with the extended AV interval and a premature atrial contraction is detected,... Agent: Pacesetter, Inc.

20080312711 - Pressure-modulated energy level for pacing pulses: Techniques for pacing the heart of a patient as a function of a pressure value make use of a pressure monitor that receives a signal from a pressure sensor in the heart. The pressure monitor measures a pressure value. The pressure monitor may, for example, estimate the pulmonary artery diastolic... Agent: Medtronic, Inc.

20080312712 - Implantable devices and methods for stimulation of cardiac or other tissues: An implantable stimulation system is provided for stimulation of the heart, phrenic nerve, gastric system, or other tissue structures accessible via a patient's upper gastrointestinal system or airway. The stimulation system includes an implantable controller housing including a pulse generator; at least one electrical lead attachable to the pulse generator;... Agent: Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

20080312713 - System and method for determining electrode-tissue contact based on amplitude modulation of sensed signal: Methods and systems for monitoring contact between a medical probe and tissue are provided. A medical probe is introduced into a patient adjacent the tissue. An electrical parameter, e.g., electrical admittance, is measuring between a first electrode located on the medical probe and a second electrode remote from the first... Agent: VistaIPLaw Group LLP

20080312715 - Detecting and treating nervous system disorders: Some embodiments of a mapping device may be capable of passing through cerebral veins and other cerebrovascular spaces to provide electrophysiological mapping of the brain. These embodiments of the device may also be capable of providing, simultaneously or separately, ablation energy or other treatments to targeted brain tissue. In such... Agent: Fish & Richardson P.C.

20080312714 - Hepatic electrical stimulation: The present invention relates to a method of providing electrical stimulation to a liver of a subject which includes providing one or more stimulatory electrodes to the liver of the subject and providing electrical stimulation to the liver of the subject. The invention further relates to methods of reducing risk... Agent: Winstead PC

20080312716 - Methods and systems for using intracranial electrodes: The present invention relates to electrode assemblies, neurostimulation systems and methods for implanting and using same. In exemplary embodiments, the electrode includes a body having a conductive contact surface dimensioned and configured to contact a patient's skull; and an electrode head associated with the body. The electrode head is sized... Agent: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (sf)

20080312717 - Hybrid cochlear implant: An electrode array (30) which is able to be inserted to a desired depth within the cochlea to provide useful percepts for the recipient which will also preferably not cause damage to the sensitive structures of the cochlea. The electrode array (30) is insertable through an opening in the cochlea... Agent: Mcandrews Held & Malloy, Ltd

20080312718 - Skin stimulation device and a method and computer program product for detecting a skin stimulation location: A skin stimulation device is provided with a stimulator (4) for locally stimulating skin at a skin location on a body part, for applying acupressure for example. The device has a storage unit (42) that stores location information specifying the skin location relative to a feature of the body part.... Agent: Philips Intellectual Property & Standards

20080312719 - Transducer wireless control system and method: A transducer wireless control system provides wireless control of transmit and receive activity of ultrasonic or other types of transducers used as sensors or other applications. In other applications, the transducer wireless control system provides wireless control of the phase of transmitted and received signals to or from ultrasonic or... Agent: Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP/seattle

20080312720 - Multi-element acoustic recharging system: An acoustic energy delivery system for delivering acoustic energy to an implantable medical device (“IMD”). The system includes an IMD having a power source and an energy delivery device. The energy delivery device includes a controller and an array of ultrasonic elements electrically coupled to the controller and configured to... Agent: Faegre & Benson, LLP 32469

20080312721 - Tanning booth: A tanning booth comprises a housing with upright walls having an inner reflective surface surrounding a hollow interior. A plurality of high strength tanning bulbs arranged to emit ultraviolet light are supported circumferentially about the hollow interior adjacent a top end of the upright walls and oriented to direct the... Agent: Ade & Company Inc.

20080312722 - Heat storage/release device: A heat storage/release device for hot/cold compress application is disclosed to include a bag, which defines therein a sealed accommodation chamber, a heat storage/release material, which is accommodated in the accommodation chamber of the bag and adapted for storing/releasing heat energy, and flexible members fastened to the bag at two... Agent: Sinorica, LLC

20080312706 - Coil for magnetic stimulation and methods for using the same: A magnetic stimulator, which may be used as a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device, and a method for its use are disclosed. The stimulator comprises a frame and an electrically conductive coil having a partially toroidal or ovate base and an outwardly projecting extension portion. The frame may be a... Agent: Klarquist Sparkman, LLP

20080312723 - Apparatus and method for inducing suspended animation using rapid, whole body, profound hypothermia: Disclosed is a transportable apparatus that maintains a large volume of a cold solution at a preset low temperature and rapidly delivers it to an irresuscitable patient's thoracic aorta at a preset and controlled flow rate, while monitoring pressure and eliminating the introduction of air embolisms into the patient, for... Agent: The Webb Law Firm, P.C.

20080312724 - Spinal and upper cervical impulse treatment and device: The current invention is a spinal and upper cervical impulse treatment device and controller, which delivers multiple impulses of variable frequency and variable force in a linear direction, as well as rotational forces, for patient treatment. Known chiropractic impulse devices are all hand held devices. In contrast, the spinal and... Agent: Vermette & Co.

20080312725 - Implantable devices and methods for stimulation of cardiac and other tissues: An implantable system is provided for stimulation of the heart, phrenic nerve, or other tissue structures accessible via a patient's airway. The stimulation system includes an implantable controller housing which includes a pulse generator; at least one electrical lead attachable to said pulse generator; and at least one electrode carried... Agent: Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

20080312726 - Implantable hermetically sealed structures: Implantable hermetically sealed structures and methods for making the same are provided. Also provided are devices, systems and kits including the hermetically sealed structures, as well as methods of using such devices and systems.... Agent: Bozicevic, Field & Francis LLP (proteus Biomedical, Inc)

20080306559 - Defibrillator with cardiac blood flow determination: A method of determining whether events in a heart's electrical activity result in corresponding blood flow events comprises simultaneously taking an electrocardiograph (ECG) and an impedance cardiograph (ICG) of the heart. Successive periods of the ECG are examined to detect successive occurrences of at least one periodic waveform feature indicative... Agent: Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, LLP Intellectual Property Group

20080306561 - Multiple pulse defibrillation for subcutaneous implantable cardiac devices: Cardiac stimulation methods and systems provide for multiple pulse defibrillation, and involve sensing a fibrillation event, determining a fibrillation cycle length associated with the fibrillation event, and delivering a plurality of defibrillation pulses to treat the fibrillation event. Defibrillation pulses are delivered using a combination of subcutaneous non-intrathoracic electrodes. Delivery... Agent: Hollingsworth & Funk, LLC

20080306560 - Wearable defibrillator with audio input/output: A wearable defibrillator and method of monitoring the condition of a patient are disclosed. The wearable defibrillator includes at least one therapy pad, at least one sensor and at least one processing unit operatively connected to the one or more therapy pads and the one or more sensors. The wearable... Agent: Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

20080306562 - Medical device configured to test for user responsiveness: A medical device is disclosed that includes one or more treatment electrodes, one or more sensors, and one or more controllers connected to the one or more treatment electrodes and one or more sensors. The medical device also includes one or more response mechanisms connected to the one or more... Agent: Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

20080306563 - System and method for cardiovascular treatment or training: The invention provides a system and method for cardiovascular treatment or training of an individual. One or more venous return devices are used to alter the venous return in an individual, and one or more heart rate devices are used to alter the individual's heart rate. A processor activates the... Agent: The Nath Law Group

20080306565 - Medical device: In an implantable medical device and a method and computer-readable medium for operating the medical device to detect a condition of a heart of a patient, activity level of a patient and acoustic energy in a patient are sensed, and acoustic signals are generated that are indicative of heart sounds... Agent: Schiff Hardin, LLP Patent Department

20080306564 - Method and apparatus for short-term heart rate variability monitoring and diagnostics: A diagnostic system monitors autonomic using short term heart rate variability (STHRV). Some examples apply a therapy that is adjusted based on wellness indicator. A wellness indicator is a measure of the STHRV produced to indicate a patient's cardiac condition.... Agent: Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, P.A.

20080306566 - Implantable medical device with heart condition detection: A method for detecting a condition of a heart of a patient using an implantable medical device including the steps of sensing acoustic signals indicative of heart sounds of the heart of the patient; extracting signals corresponding to a first heart sound (S1) and a second heart sound (S2) from... Agent: Schiff Hardin, LLP Patent Department

20080306568 - Identifying heart failure patients suitable for resynchronization therapy using qrs complex width from an intracardiac electrogram: Methods and systems are disclosed for determining whether a patient is a responder to cardiac resynchronization therapy. The beginning and ending of the intrinsic ventricular depolarization are determined through signals measured from one or more electrodes implanted in the patient's heart. An interval between the beginning and ending of the... Agent: Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner/bsc-crm

20080306567 - System and method for improving crt response and identifying potential non-responders to crt therapy: A method is disclosed that includes selecting an electrode configuration from a plurality of electrode configurations associated with electrodes of an implantable lead, sensing activity of the right ventricle and the left ventricle, determining an interval between sensed activity of the right ventricle and sensed activity of the left ventricle... Agent: Pacesetter, Inc.

20080306569 - Method and apparatus for monitoring battery status of implantable medical device: A battery monitoring system monitors status of a battery in an implantable medical device by comparing a measured battery status trend to a calculated battery status trend. The measured battery status trend is a trend of measured parameter values each indicative of an actual state of depletion of the battery.... Agent: Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, P.A.

20080306570 - Apparatus and method for treating pulmonary conditions: An apparatus for positioning at a target site and for treating a pulmonary condition in a subject includes a fluid exchange catheter for insertion into a tracheo-bronchial tree and an inflatable balloon coupled to the fluid exchange catheter. At least a portion of the inflatable balloon is for engaging a... Agent: Tarolli, Sundheim, Covell & Tummino L.L.P.

20080306571 - Devices for treatment of central nervous system injuries: A device for stimulating axon growth of the nerve cells in the spinal cord of mammals includes a device having a DC stimulus generator (356, 358, 360, 362, 364, 366, 388, 390, 368, 370, 372, 374, 376, 378, 392, 394, 606, 608) having first and second oppositely polarized output terminals... Agent: Thomas A Walsh Ice Miller

20080306572 - Apparatus for experiencing visual-tactile interaction: A subject is able to experience the sensation of a phantom limb by an effect of interaction generated between visual sensation and tactile sensation. A first chamber 110 for placing therein a prosthesis 305 that mimics a part of either a left or right limb, and a second chamber 160... Agent: Paul D. Bianco Fleit Gibbons Gutman Bongini & Bianco Pl

20080306574 - Method for the ablation of cartilage tissue in a knee joint using indocyanine: A method for the ablation of human or animal articular cartilage is disclosed that employs an exogenous absorber, such as a compound having the molecular formula C43H47N2NaO6S2, to coat or color the surface of the articular cartilage. The coated or colored cartilage surface then has an energy absorption peak at... Agent: Griffin & Szipl, PC

20080306573 - Nomogram computation and application system and method for refractive laser surgery: A method for optimizing a prescription for laser-ablation corneal treatment includes receiving a measured correction prescription for a current patient. Next a database of treatment outcomes on a plurality of previously treated patients is accessed. The database contains a desired correction, and an actual correction. A difference between the desired... Agent: Alcon

20080306575 - Body tanning device: A body tanning device, comprising: a chassis for support on the floor and/or on a wall; a supporting frame for a tanning ray source, which has a large opening for the exit of the tanning rays, the frame being pivoted to the chassis in order to assume at least two... Agent: Modiano & Associati

20080306576 - Optical cell control prosthetics: A prosthetic device for optical control of target cells comprises a set of light sources, hardware for guiding light to the target cells, supporting hardware that holds members of the set of light sources with respect to each other and the target cells, control circuitry for controlling the set of... Agent: Norma E Henderson Henderson Patent Law

20080306577 - Apparatus for altering the body temperature of a patient: Apparatus for altering the body temperature of a patient comprises a cover for covering at least a portion of a patient's body and a compliant support adapted to underlie and generally conform to the shape of the portion of the patient's body to define a well adjacent to the patient's... Agent: Richard L. Bridge Armstrong Teasdale LLP

20080306578 - Attachment of tubing in a cardiac lead: In a method for fixing tubing of a cardiac lead to a termination element, such as an electrode or a pin connector and in a cardiac lead formed according to such a method, an exterior of the termination element is provided with a thermoplastic fixation element, and thermoplastic tubing is... Agent: Schiff Hardin, LLP Patent Department

20080300640 - System and method for achieving regular slow ventricular rhythm in response to atrial fibrillation: A system (10) for achieving a desired cardiac rate and cardiac rhythm in response to atrial fibrillation in a heart includes an atrial fibrillation (AF) detector (40) for detecting AF. The system also includes an atrioventricular node vagal stimulator (AVN-VS) (30) for stimulating vagal nerves associated with an atrioventricular (AV)... Agent: Tarolli, Sundheim, Covell & Tummino L.L.P.

20080300641 - Cardiac information and activity information association systems, apparatus, and methods: Embodiments include cardiac information and activity information association systems, apparatus, and methods. An apparatus embodiment includes a cardiac sensor adapted to generate cardiac information descriptive of cardiac functioning of a patient, an activity sensor adapted to generate activity information indicating physical activity of the patient, a processing element adapted to... Agent: Medtronic, Inc.

20080300642 - Regeneration treatment apparatus, operating method thereof, and regeneration treatment method: The cell viability in cell transplantation is improved so as to achieve sufficient repair of organ. There is provided a regeneration treatment apparatus comprising: a heart rate detector which detects a heart rate of a patient; a memory part which stores a heart rate prior to stimulation; stimulating electrodes which... Agent: Scully Scott Murphy & Presser, PC

20080300643 - Heart failure therapy adjustment based on ventricular pressures: Pacing left and right ventricles of the heart for delivery of heart failure therapy involves measuring right ventricular (RV) pressure and a left ventricular (LV) pressure, and computing a parameter developed from one or both of the RV and LV pressure measurements. The parameter is indicative of a degree of... Agent: Hollingsworth & Funk, LLC

20080300644 - Method for reducing phrenic nerve stimulation: Methods and devices for reducing phrenic nerve stimulation of cardiac pacing systems involve delivering a pacing pulse to a ventricle of a heart. A transthoracic impedance signal is sensed, and a deviation in the signal resulting from the pacing pulse may be used to determine phrenic nerve stimulation. Methods may... Agent: Hollingsworth & Funk, LLC

20080300645 - Treatment of cardiomyopathy, heart failure and cardiac ischemia using stimulation induced secretion of glp-1: An exemplary method for treating heart failure includes diagnosing heart failure and calling for delivery of energy to the distal ileum to activate L cells using an implantable device where activation of L cells causes release of GLP-1 and where release of GLP-1 treats heart failure. Various other methods, devices,... Agent: Pacesetter, Inc.

20080300646 - Treatment of cardiomyopathy, heart failure and cardiac ischemia using stimulation induced secretion of glp-1: An exemplary method for treating heart failure includes diagnosing heart failure and calling for delivery of energy to the distal ileum to activate L cells using an implantable device where activation of L cells causes release of GLP-1 and where release of GLP-1 treats heart failure. Various other methods, devices,... Agent: Pacesetter, Inc.

20080300647 - Treatment of cardiomyopathy, heart failure and cardiac ischemia using stimulation induced secretion of glp-1: An exemplary method for treating heart failure includes diagnosing heart failure and calling for delivery of energy to the distal ileum to activate L cells using an implantable device where activation of L cells causes release of GLP-1 and where release of GLP-1 treats heart failure. Various other methods, devices,... Agent: Pacesetter, Inc.

20080300648 - Treatment of cardiomyopathy, heart failure and cardiac ischemia using stimulation induced secretion of glp-1: An exemplary method for treating heart failure includes diagnosing heart failure and calling for delivery of energy to the distal ileum to activate L cells using an implantable device where activation of L cells causes release of GLP-1 and where release of GLP-1 treats heart failure. Various other methods, devices,... Agent: Pacesetter, Inc.

20080300649 - Automatic voiding diary: A device that may be used as an automatic voiding diary detects urinary and/or fecal voiding events and records voiding information indicative of the voiding events without the need for significant patient interaction. The device includes a microphone that captures internal and/or external sounds that are associated with voiding events... Agent: Shumaker & Sieffert, P. A.

20080300650 - Implantable medical lead including voiding event sensor: An implantable medical lead includes at least one stimulation electrode and at least one sensor configured to generate an electrical signal that varies as a function of a parameter associated with a voiding event of a patient. In some embodiments, the sensor may be at least one of a microphone... Agent: Shumaker & Sieffert, P. A.

20080300651 - Voiding event identification based on patient input: An implantable medical device (IMD) is configured to operate as an automatic voiding diary for logging urinary and/or fecal voiding events. The IMD detects urinary and/or fecal voiding events and generates data that identifies detected events as voluntary or involuntary events. In particular, the IMD generates the identification data based... Agent: Shumaker & Sieffert, P. A.

20080300652 - Systems and methods for inducing intelligible hearing: The present invention comprises systems and methods for inducing auditory sensations in patients by stimulating the inferior colliculus of the mammalian midbrain. In some embodiments, the invention comprises an auditory prosthesis system comprising a microphone, a sound processor, a current stimulator, and one or more stimulating electrodes disposed in the... Agent: Rader, Fishman & Grauer PLLC

20080300653 - Cochlear implant fitting system: A method comprises adjusting baseline auditory stimulation parameters of a cochlear implant on a living body and providing auditory electrical stimulation to a living body via electrodes of the cochlear implant in combination with adjusting the auditory stimulation parameters of the cochlear implant to the living body in real time,... Agent: Fay Kaplun & Marcin, LLP

20080300654 - Implantable therapy system: A therapy system for applying an electrical signal to an internal anatomical feature of a patient includes an implantable component and an external component. The implantable component is configured to receive a selected therapy program and a selected therapy schedule from the external component. The implantable component is adapted to... Agent: Merchant & Gould PC

20080300659 - Implantable medical device which may be controlled from central station: An implantable medical device (IMD) comprises a transmitting/receiving (T/R) device for transmitting medical data sensed from a patient to, and for receiving control signals from, a medical expert (a human medical professional and/or a computerized expert system) at a remote location; an electronic medical treatment device for treating the patient... Agent: Milde & Hoffberg, LLP

20080300658 - Implantable medical device with integrated antenna system: The present invention is related to active implantable medical devices comprising an antenna and a band diplexer connected to said antenna. The band diplexer comprises first filter means for a first signal to be transmitted and/or received in a first RF band and second filter means for a second signal... Agent: Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz LLP

20080300656 - Implantable therapy system: A therapy system for applying an electrical signal to an internal anatomical feature of a patient includes an implantable component and an external component. The external component can be configured into one of multiple selectable operating modes. The therapy system also may include a first external antenna configured to communicate... Agent: Merchant & Gould PC

20080300655 - Techniques to monitor and trend nerve damage and recovery: An exemplary method includes implementing a nerve stimulation therapy that includes delivering stimulation energy to a target nerve, periodically acquiring compound action potentials responsive to the delivered stimulation energy and assessing condition of the target nerve based at least in part on the periodically acquired compound action potentials. Various other... Agent: Pacesetter, Inc.

20080300657 - Therapy system: A therapy system for applying an electrical signal to an internal anatomical feature of a patient includes an implantable component and an external component. Initial values for the parameters of a therapy program can be incremented after a predetermined period of time by a predetermined amount to obtain a subsequent... Agent: Merchant & Gould PC

20080300660 - Power generation for implantable devices: An implantable, rechargeable medical system comprised of an implanted device, a power storage device connected to the implantable device, and a charging device operatively connected to the electrical storage device. The charging device can be thermoelectric and have components for transferring thermal energy from an intracranial heat accumulator to an... Agent: John, Michael Sasha

20080300661 - Perceptible apparatus and methods for reactive effect: A perceptible apparatus and methods for use and calibration in helping to create a reactive effect upon a user is disclosed. The present invention includes control circuitry operative to generate a one of a plurality of selected signals. Also included is structure for producing a variable perceptible output in response... Agent: Jackson Esquire Roger A. Jackson

20080300662 - Custom laser sequences: A custom laser sequencing system is disclosed. The system may include a laser coupled with a catheter. The catheter may include a fiber optic that directs light from the laser toward unwanted material on a vessel wall. The system may also include a modulator and a controller. The modulator is... Agent: Townsend And Townsend And Crew, LLP

20080300663 - Nano- and micro-scale wireless stimulating probe: Untethered micro or nanoscale probes may be dispersed within tissue to be individually addressed through external electromagnetic radiation to create local electrical currents used for direct stimulation, alteration of cellular potentials, or the release or modification of contained or attached chemical compounds.... Agent: Boyle Fredrickson S.c.

20080300664 - Method and apparatus for placing a coronary sinus/cardiac vein pacing and defibrillation lead with adjustable electrode spacing: A medical electrical lead, which may be useful in coupling an implantable medical device, is comprised of a first and second lead. The first lead has a first electrode coupled adjacent a distal end portion thereof. The distal end portion of the first lead is anchorable in the coronary sinus... Agent: Medtronic, Inc.