Medical follow-up equipment, method, medium and device for medical follow-up

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to medical follow-up devices, methods, media, and apparatus for medical follow-up. Specifically, a medical follow-up device is provided, comprising a memory having instructions stored therein and a processor coupled to the memory. When executed by the processor, the instructions cause the medical follow-up device to: obtain IMD operating parameters from a patient's implantable medical device (IMD) via a probe device communicatively coupled to the processor; obtain patient identification information via an identification device communicatively coupled to the processor; associate the IMD operating parameters with the patient identification information; and transmit the IMD operating parameters associated with the patient identification information to a remote device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to implantable medical devices and, more particularly, to apparatus, methods, media, and devices for medical follow-up of patients wearing implantable medical devices. Background Art

[0002] With the development of modern medical technology, implantable medical devices (IMDs) are increasingly being used, playing an important role in maintaining the normal functioning of patients. For example, an implantable cardiac electrical stimulation system (such as a pacemaker) transmits pulsed current generated by an implanted pulse generator to specific parts of the heart through electrodes, thereby stimulating the heart to function normally in patients with heart failure or cardiac dysfunction. However, implanting electronic components such as pulse generators and electrodes into the body is only the first step in treatment. Since these electronic components can affect the patient's life safety at any time, long-term and regular monitoring and adjustment of the working conditions of these electronic components are even more crucial.

[0003] The purpose of medical follow-up for IMDs is to regularly monitor and adjust the electronic components of the implanted IMD. Specifically, IMD follow-up involves regularly evaluating the effectiveness and rationality of the IMD's operation using external electronic devices. When necessary, IMD operating parameters are adjusted based on the patient's individual physical condition, using diagnostic data.

[0004] In the current common follow-up model, the follow-up needs to be conducted in the presence of the patient's doctor. The doctor uses an external electronic device, usually called a "programmer," to communicate with the IMD in the patient's body, thereby collecting the operating parameters of the IMD and, if necessary, adjusting the operating parameters according to the patient's physical condition. However, this model may require patients to travel long distances to the hospital on a regular basis and register to see their attending physician, which is time-consuming and economically expensive. Moreover, in many cases, the follow-up process may only require reading the patient's IMD operating parameters and performing an evaluation, and no operating parameter adjustments are required. Therefore, the doctor's full intervention is not always necessary. Therefore, patients need a convenient and fast medical follow-up solution for IMDs. Summary of the Invention

[0005] A brief overview of one or more embodiments is provided below to facilitate a basic understanding of one or more aspects of the present disclosure. This section does not expand on the embodiments, is not intended to record the key content or key elements of the embodiments, nor does it indicate any scope of the embodiments or claims. The sole purpose of this section is to provide some concepts of the embodiments to facilitate a more detailed description of the embodiments. It should be understood that the more detailed description below includes further or other optional embodiments beyond the embodiments described in this section.

[0006] The embodiments described herein include medical follow-up devices, methods, media, and apparatus for IMDs that overcome at least some of the drawbacks of existing follow-up protocols and provide a follow-up protocol that is convenient and quick for patients.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a medical follow-up device is provided, comprising a memory having instructions stored thereon and a processor coupled to the memory. When executed by the processor, the instructions cause the medical follow-up device to: obtain an implantable medical device (IMD) operating parameter from a patient via a probe device communicatively coupled to the processor; obtain patient identification information via an identification device communicatively coupled to the processor; associate the IMD operating parameter with the patient identification information; and transmit the IMD operating parameter associated with the patient identification information to a remote device.

[0008] In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the medical follow-up device to retrieve medical data associated with the IMD from a remote device based on the patient identification information.

[0009] In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the medical follow-up device to determine whether the IMD operating parameters are appropriate for the patient's condition based on the medical data.

[0010] In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the medical follow-up device to determine whether the IMD is in a normal operating state based on the IMD operating parameters.

[0011] In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the medical follow-up device to generate a follow-up report for the patient based on the IMD operating parameters and the patient identification information.

[0012] In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the medical follow-up device to instruct a printing device communicatively coupled to the processor to print a follow-up report.

[0013] In some embodiments, the IMD includes at least one of a cardiac pacemaker, a cardioverter-defibrillator, a cardiac resynchronization pacemaker, a cardiac resynchronization defibrillator, or an implantable electrocardiogram (ECG) recorder.

[0014] In some embodiments, the identity recognition device includes at least one of a camera, a barcode scanner, an integrated circuit (IC) card reader, a radio frequency card recognition device, and a biometric recognition device.

[0015] In some embodiments, the medical follow-up device is an integrated device including a probe device and an identification device.

[0016] In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the medical follow-up device to perform the following operations: obtain patient identification information associated with the IMD from the remote device; and in response to determining that the patient identification information obtained via the identification device matches the patient identification information obtained from the remote device, associate the IMD operating parameters with the patient identification information obtained via the identification device.

[0017] In some embodiments, when executed by the processor, the instructions further cause the medical follow-up device to perform the following operations: obtain doctor identification information via the identification device; and in response to determining that the doctor has programming authority for the IMD, allow the doctor to adjust IMD operating parameters via the probe device.

[0018] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for medical follow-up is provided, comprising the above-mentioned various operations that are caused to be performed by a medical follow-up device when the instructions are executed at a processor.

[0019] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided. The non-transitory computer-readable medium has instructions stored thereon. When executed by a processor, the instructions cause the processor to perform the various operations previously described by the medical follow-up device.

[0020] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus is provided, including a unit for performing the various operations performed by the aforementioned medical follow-up device.

[0021] Other embodiments and various non-limiting examples, scenarios, and implementations are described in greater detail below. The following description and accompanying figures illustrate certain illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure. However, these embodiments represent only a few of the various ways in which the principles of the present disclosure may be employed. Other advantages and novel features of the embodiments described herein will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of the present disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The accompanying drawings illustrate one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, constitute a part of the specification, and, together with the specification, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. For ease of description, the dimensions of the various parts shown in the accompanying drawings are not drawn to scale. In the accompanying drawings, identical or similar reference numerals and letters represent identical or similar items in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, it need not be further discussed in subsequent drawings.

[0023] The present disclosure can be more clearly understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0024] Figure 1A schematic diagram of a working environment for performing medical follow-up for an IMD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0025] Figure 2 A schematic block diagram of a medical follow-up device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0026] Figure 3 A flowchart of a method for performing medical follow-up on an IMD using a medical follow-up device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the present disclosure and its applications. Unless otherwise specifically stated, the relative arrangement of components and steps, numerical expressions, and values described in these embodiments should be interpreted as merely exemplary and not as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

[0028] Technologies, methods, and equipment known to ordinary technicians in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but where appropriate, these technologies, methods, and equipment should be considered part of the specification.

[0029] The present disclosure relates to a medical follow-up device, a method, a medium, and an apparatus for medical follow-up. The medical follow-up device can obtain IMD operating parameters from the IMD in the patient's body via an external probe device (also known as a "patient connector"), and obtain the patient's identity information via an identity recognition device, associate the IMD operating parameters and the patient's identity information, and transmit them to a remote device. Patients can use the follow-up device to complete the follow-up process by themselves without having to see a doctor. Moreover, since the IMD operating parameters are associated with the patient's identity information, the medical follow-up device can be shared by multiple patients without worrying about confusion of the IMD operating parameters. Such a follow-up device can be widely used in various places, including hospital lobbies, communities, nursing homes, patient workstations, etc., and does not have to be limited to a doctor's office or a patient's home.

[0030] In this disclosure, the term "including" and similar words should be openly understood to mean "including but not limited to." The term "based on" should be interpreted as "based at least in part on." The term "embodiment" should be interpreted as "at least one embodiment."

[0031] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a working environment for performing medical follow-up for an IMD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0032] like Figure 1As shown, an implantable medical device (IMD) 11 is placed in the patient's body. The IMD 11 can be an electronic device including an energy supply circuit, a control circuit and an execution circuit, wherein the control circuit uses the power provided by the energy supply circuit to control the execution circuit according to predetermined instructions to affect or adjust the patient's body functions. The energy supply circuit may include an implantable battery (such as various lithium batteries), an extracorporeal transcutaneous electromagnetic coupling transmission system (TETS) or a biobattery. The control circuit may include but is not limited to a CPU, a hardware microprocessor, a hardware processor, a multi-core processor, a single-core processor, a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a DSP or other similar analog or digital circuit systems or a combination thereof. The execution circuit may include an electric pulse generator and a transmission mechanism, various biological parameter sensors, a drug infusion device, etc.

[0033] In some embodiments, the implantable medical device may include any one or more of an implantable neural stimulator (including deep brain stimulation DBS, implantable cortical stimulation CNS, implantable spinal cord stimulation SCS, implantable hip nerve stimulation SNS, implantable vagus nerve stimulation VNS, etc.), an implantable cardiac stimulator (including a pacemaker, a cardioverter-defibrillator, a cardiac resynchronization pacemaker, a cardiac resynchronization defibrillator, etc.), an implantable drug infusion system (IDDS) (including an insulin pump, etc.), a cochlear implant, or an implantable monitoring system (including an implantable electrocardiogram recorder).

[0034] In some embodiments, the IMD 11 may further include a sensor to sense data associated with the patient's physical condition. In some embodiments, the IMD 11 may further include a memory to store operating parameters associated with the operation of the IMD 11 and / or data associated with the patient's physical condition sensed by the sensor. In further embodiments, the IMD 11 may further include a communication circuit that uses electromagnetic waves or infrared rays at a frequency such as 175 kHz, a frequency in the Medical Implant Communication Service (MICS) band of 402 MHz to 405 MHz, or other frequencies as an information carrier to communicate with an external electronic device, thereby enabling the external electronic device to monitor and control the IMD 11.

[0035] It should be noted that the placement of an IMD in a patient's body includes not only implantation through an incision in the patient's body, but also placement on the patient's body surface or in the superficial layer of the skin / mucous membrane in other ways, as long as the IMD can affect or adjust the patient's body functions.

[0036] The probe device 12 can establish a communication connection with the IMD 11 using electromagnetic waves or infrared rays at a corresponding frequency. The probe device 12 can also communicate with the medical follow-up device 13 using a wired or wireless protocol. Wired protocols may include serial ports, parallel ports, or other wired cable communication protocols. Wireless protocols may be, for example, any Bluetooth protocol, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), or other short-range protocols that use any licensed or unlicensed frequency band (such as the 2.4 GHz band, the 5 GHz band, the 6 GHz band, or the 60 GHz band) to exchange data over a short distance, including the ZigBee protocol, the Z-Wave protocol, or the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol.

[0037] The medical follow-up device 13 can use the above-mentioned wired or wireless protocol to send commands to the probe device 12 to control the probe device to read the IMD operating parameters from the IMD. In some embodiments, the medical follow-up device 13 can be configured to allow or not allow the IMD operating parameters to be modified or adjusted via the probe device (this process is also called "programming"). The device structure of the medical follow-up device 13 will be discussed later in conjunction with Figure 2 The medical follow-up device 13 can be set up in a hospital lobby, a patient's home, a community, or any other place suitable for convenient follow-up of patients wearing an IMD.

[0038] Although Figure 1 The probe device 12 and the medical follow-up device 13 are shown as separate devices, but in some embodiments, the probe device 12 may be provided as a part of the medical follow-up device 13 .

[0039] The medical follow-up device 13 can establish a communication connection with a remote device 14 via a wired (e.g., Ethernet) or wireless network (e.g., Wi-Fi or 3G, 4G, or 5G cellular networks operating according to the IEEE 802.11 protocol). The remote device 14 can be, for example, a server system at a hospital or IMD manufacturer, which may store other medical data about the patient (e.g., medical history, diagnosis, examination data) and / or data associated with IMDs worn by other patients. The medical follow-up device 13 can transmit the acquired operating parameters of the IMD 11 and / or patient identity information to the remote device 14, thereby establishing a long-term follow-up database associated with the IMD or patient at the remote device 14. In some embodiments, the remote device 14 can include a server cluster capable of providing powerful cloud computing capabilities, thereby enabling analysis and integration of large amounts of long-term follow-up data associated with the IMD or patient, or other medical data of the patient. In some embodiments, the medical follow-up device 13 can be combined with the remote device 14, thereby enabling analysis and integration of follow-up data or other medical data locally at the medical follow-up device 13.

[0040] Figure 2 FIG2 shows a schematic block diagram of a medical follow-up device 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The following discussion is intended to provide a general and brief description of suitable medical follow-up devices. The medical follow-up device 200 can be implemented as various computer systems, including mobile phones, digital media players, desktop computers, notebooks, all-in-one computers, tablet computers, portable computing devices, and any other computer systems capable of communicating with a computer. Figure 1 The probe device 12 in the mobile or non-mobile device establishes a communication connection.

[0041] The medical follow-up device 200 may include a processor 202, a memory 204, a probe device 206, an identification device 208, and a network device 210. In some embodiments, the medical follow-up device 200 may include only the processor 202 and memory 204 and may be capable of sending and receiving instructions and data to and from an external probe device, identification device, and network device. In some embodiments, the medical device 200 may be an all-in-one device including the processor 202, memory 204, probe device 206, and identification device 208, thereby facilitating IMD follow-up and providing identification information for patients.

[0042] The processor 202 controls the general operation of the medical follow-up device 200. The processor 202 may include, but is not limited to, a CPU, a hardware microprocessor, a hardware processor, a multi-core processor, a single-core processor, a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a DSP, or other similar processing device capable of executing any type of instructions, algorithms, or software for controlling the operation and functionality of the medical follow-up device 200 according to the embodiments described in the present disclosure. The processor 202 may be various implementations of digital circuitry, analog circuitry, or mixed-signal (a combination of analog and digital) circuitry that performs functions in a computing system. The processor 202 may include, for example, an integrated circuit (IC), portions or circuits of a separate processor core, an entire processor core, a separate processor, a programmable hardware device such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and / or a system including multiple processors.

[0043] Memory 204 can be volatile or nonvolatile memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, nonvolatile memory can include ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), flash memory, or an internal hard drive. Volatile memory can include RAM, which acts as an external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM can take many forms, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), etc. Memory 204 can store various instructions and data (including IMD operating parameters, sensor data, and / or identification information obtained from the identification device 208 by the processor 202 from the probe device 206). By way of example and not limitation, memory 204 can also store a program product having at least one program module, as well as an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data (or executable instructions). Program modules generally implement the functions and / or methods described in the embodiments herein.

[0044] The probe device 206 may be a combination of Figure 1 The probe device 12 described above will not be described again here.

[0045] The identification device 208 can be any electronic device capable of collecting identity information, including but not limited to a camera and corresponding facial recognition circuit or module for facial recognition, a barcode scanner capable of reading a barcode or QR code associated with identity information (e.g., a QR code on a registration slip with identity information attached), an IC card reader capable of reading an integrated circuit (IC) card associated with identity information (e.g., a patient's medical card, social security card, etc.), a radio frequency card recognition device capable of reading a radio frequency card associated with identity information, or a biometric recognition device capable of identifying biometric features representing identity information. In some embodiments, the identification device 208 can be used to collect identity information of a patient wearing an IMD. In some embodiments, the identification device 208 can also collect the identity information of a physician to determine whether the physician is the patient's attending physician or whether the physician has program control qualifications.

[0046] The network device 210 may be any circuit or module for establishing a wired (e.g., Ethernet) or wireless network (e.g., Wi-Fi or a 3G, 4G, or 5G cellular network operating according to the IEEE 802.11 protocol) connection with the remote device 14.

[0047] Memory 204, identification device 208, and network device 210 may be communicatively coupled to processor 202 via a bus (not shown). The bus may include a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, a processor, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

[0048] In some embodiments, the medical follow-up device 200 may include a user interface 212. The user interface 212 may include an input device. The input device may be any electronic device suitable for receiving control command input from a user by the medical follow-up device 200, such as buttons or keys, a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, a touch sensor panel, a touch screen, a microphone (and a voice recognition device), etc. The input device may also include a camera that captures images or videos of the user.

[0049] The user interface 212 may also include a display device. The display device may be any display monitor suitable for displaying image data, such as a user interface, by the medical follow-up device 200, including but not limited to a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), or a light-emitting diode display (LED). For example, the medical follow-up device 200 may generate a follow-up report based on the collected IMD operational data and display the report via the display device.

[0050] In some embodiments, the medical follow-up device 200 may include a printer 214. The printer 214 may be any commercially available printer device integrated into the medical follow-up device 200. The printer 214 is communicatively coupled to the processor 202 via a bus (not shown) as described above. The processor 202 executes a printer driver to convert electronic data into a printable format and output the data to the printer 214 for printing. For example, the medical follow-up device 200 may use the printer 214 to print a follow-up report.

[0051] It is necessary to realize that although Figure 2 While the probe device 206, identification device 208, network device 210, user interface 212, and printer 214 are shown as being within the medical follow-up device 200, one or more of these devices may be located externally. The medical follow-up device connects to one or more external devices via corresponding interfaces to exchange instructions and data. Furthermore, the functions of one or more of the probe device 206, identification device 208, network device 210, user interface 212, and printer 214 may be combined. For example, a camera may serve as both a user interface and an identification device.

[0052] Figure 3 FIG. 1 shows a flow chart of a method for performing medical follow-up on an IMD by a medical follow-up device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 2The components of the medical follow-up device 200 shown in FIG. Figure 2 and Figure 3 Provide a description.

[0053] In step S302 , the processor 202 obtains an implantable medical device (IMD) operating parameter from the patient via the probe device 206 .

[0054] IMD operating parameters are parameters that reflect the IMD's own operating status. Taking a pacemaker as an example, IMD operating parameters may include battery usage, pacing loop impedance, pacing threshold, sensing threshold, etc. In some embodiments, IMD operating parameters may include the IMD's unique device identifier.

[0055] To obtain IMD operating parameters, processor 202 sends an instruction to probe device 206 to read the IMD operating parameters after probe device 206 establishes a connection with the IMD. The patient can place probe device 206 close to the IMD in their body so that the two can establish a communication connection using electromagnetic waves or infrared rays. In some embodiments, probe device 206 automatically establishes a communication connection with the IMD using electromagnetic coupling. In other embodiments, probe device 206 establishes a communication connection with the IMD in response to a connection establishment instruction sent by processor 202. After the communication connection is established, probe device 206 sends an indication to the processor indicating that it has successfully established a connection with the IMD. In response to this indication, processor 202 sends an instruction to probe device 206 to read the IMD operating parameters. In some embodiments, the process of reading the IMD operating parameters may involve testing the operating status of the IMD, and thus the read instruction may include an instruction to perform the test and collect the test results.

[0056] In some embodiments, the IMD may further include a sensor for sensing the patient's physical condition and a memory for storing the sensed data. Accordingly, obtaining IMD operating parameters from the IMD may further include obtaining sensed data associated with the patient's physical condition from the IMD. For example, some pacemakers function as Holter monitors, capable of recording sensed data of the patient, such as dynamic atrial / ventricular rates, atrial / ventricular tachycardia or bradycardia events, and their details. The processor 202 may receive the sensed data simultaneously with the IMD operating parameters and, in subsequent steps S304 and S306, combine the sensed data with the IMD operating parameters for association or transmission.

[0057] In some embodiments, the processor 202 determines whether the IMD is in a normal operating state based on the IMD operating parameters. In some embodiments, the processor 202 may compare the IMD operating parameters with a predetermined threshold range to determine whether the IMD is in a normal operating state. Taking a pacemaker as an example, whether the pacemaker's battery status is within a safe range can be determined based on the pacemaker's estimated battery life, battery output voltage, and internal resistance. For another example, if the pacing impedance is lower or higher than the normal range, it can be inferred that the pacing loop may have a short circuit or open circuit (insulation damage, wire breakage, poor contact of the connecting rod, etc.), thereby determining that the IMD is not in a normal operating state.

[0058] In step S304 , the processor 202 obtains the patient's identity information via the identity recognition device 208 .

[0059] As previously mentioned, the identification device 208 may include at least one of a camera, a barcode scanner, an integrated circuit (IC) card reader, a radio frequency card recognition device, and a biometric identification device. The patient's identity information may be, for example, a facial image or other biometric identification feature (e.g., fingerprint, iris, etc.), identification card information, medical card information (including social security card information), or other card or medium that is bound with information uniquely identifying the patient.

[0060] In some embodiments, step S304 may be performed simultaneously with or immediately after step S302. To ensure the correspondence between the patient identification information and the IMD, processor 202 may be configured to obtain the patient identification information simultaneously with obtaining the IMD operating parameters or within a threshold timeframe. If the threshold timeframe is exceeded, processor 202 may no longer receive the patient identification information. In other embodiments, step S302 may be performed after step S304. Similarly, processor 202 may be configured to obtain the IMD operating parameters within a threshold timeframe after obtaining the patient identification information.

[0061] In step S306, processor 202 associates the IMD operating parameter with the patient identification information. “Associating” may mean binding the IMD operating parameter with the patient identification information so that the IMD operating parameter can be identified based on the patient identification information.

[0062] In step S308 , processor 202 transmits the IMD operating parameters associated with the patient identification information to a remote device.

[0063] The remote device can be a cloud data server established by the IMD manufacturer or a medical data server of a hospital. The remote device maintains a database of medical data associated with the IMD. The medical data associated with the IMD may include IMD operating parameters collected during previous follow-up visits of the IMD. Additionally or alternatively, the medical data associated with the IMD may include medical record data associated with the patient corresponding to the IMD (including past medical history, diagnosis, treatment data, and various clinical examination data, such as MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, fluoroscopy, electrocardiogram, electroanatomical mapping, and CT scan data).

[0064] Currently, some IMDs, when implanted, only record the IMD's unique device identifier and the patient's name. If a medical follow-up device is shared by multiple patients wearing IMDs, it cannot effectively distinguish the acquired IMD operating parameters, especially when there may be duplicate patient names. Step S306 effectively adds a process for recording patient identity information into the IMD, allowing the medical follow-up device to be shared by multiple patients without worrying about data confusion.

[0065] In some embodiments, processor 202 may retrieve medical data associated with the IMD from a remote device based on the patient identification information. If the patient identification information is recorded in the remote device, medical data, including historical IMD operating parameters and patient medical history data, may be retrieved based on the patient identification information. If the patient identification information is not recorded in the remote device, historical IMD operating parameters for the same IMD may be retrieved based on the association of the patient identification information with the IMD operating parameters.

[0066] In some embodiments, processor 202 may determine whether the IMD operating parameters are appropriate for the patient's condition based on the retrieved medical data. For example, if the retrieved historical IMD operating parameters differ significantly from the currently acquired IMD operating parameters, exceeding the reasonable range of variation for the patient's condition, a preliminary determination may be made that the current IMD operating parameters are inappropriate for the patient's condition. For another example, the processor may determine, based on various retrieved current clinical examination results, that the patient's condition may be rapidly worsening and that the current IMD operating parameters are ineffective in providing effective treatment.

[0067] As can be seen, by associating patient identity information with IMD operating parameters, it is possible to establish a personalized medical database for the patient at a remote device. This allows for the retrieval of various medical data based on the patient identity information, facilitating a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of IMD treatment plans. Furthermore, if a patient's IMD battery dies and needs a replacement, or if they use an IMD from a different manufacturer, a unified medical database can be constructed based on the patient's identity information, eliminating the fragmented, incompatible, and unintegrated medical data.

[0068] In some embodiments, the remote device may already have recorded patient identification information associated with the IMD operating parameters. For example, the IMD and patient identification information may have been associated in the remote device's database when the IMD was implanted. For another example, after executing step S308, the remote device may already have the patient identification information associated with the IMD operating parameters. Next, processor 202 may obtain the patient identification information associated with the IMD from the remote device and, in response to determining that the patient identification information obtained via the identification device matches the patient identification information obtained from the remote device, associate the IMD operating parameters with the patient identification information obtained via the identification device. As a specific example, the pacemaker's device identifier and patient identification number may have been recorded in a hospital server system when the pacemaker was implanted. When the patient uses a medical follow-up device and provides their identification number, the patient's identification number is first compared with the identification number retrieved from the server using the pacemaker's device identifier. Only when the two match are the pacemaker operating parameters collected during the current follow-up visit associated with the currently provided identification number and transmitted to the hospital server system. This prevents the pacemaker's operating parameters from being linked to false identity information, which could affect the diagnosis.

[0069] In some embodiments, processor 202 can generate a follow-up report for the patient based on the IMD operating parameters and patient identification information. Processor 202 can parse the received IMD operating parameters and enter the parsed results into the corresponding fields of the electronic follow-up report template to generate the final follow-up report. In further embodiments, processor 202 can instruct printer 214 to print the follow-up report. This allows the patient to intuitively understand the follow-up results and conveniently submit the follow-up report to any professional for guidance.

[0070] For security reasons, patients may not be allowed to adjust IMD operating parameters via the probe device using a medical follow-up device, or may only be allowed to adjust IMD operating parameters within a limited range. In other words, patients are not granted programming permissions, or are granted only limited programming permissions. However, the patient's attending physician or other physicians / technicians with specialized knowledge may be granted permission to adjust IMD operating parameters. To achieve this, in some embodiments, the processor 202 may obtain the physician's identity information via the identification device 208 and, upon determining that the physician has programming permissions for the IMD, allow the physician to adjust the IMD operating parameters via the probe device. The term "physician" should be interpreted broadly to include any physician / technician with specialized knowledge of IMDs. For example, it may be stipulated that only the patient's attending physician or a technician from the IMD manufacturer has programming permissions. In this case, the processor 202 will only allow the IMD operating parameters to be modified via the medical follow-up device after obtaining the correct corresponding identity information. This prevents malicious modification or misoperation, ensuring the security of the IMD.

[0071] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the methods and systems of the present disclosure may be implemented in many ways. For example, the methods and systems of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination of software, hardware, and firmware. The above order of steps for the method is for illustration only, and the steps of the method of the present disclosure are not limited to the order specifically described above, unless otherwise specifically stated. In addition, in some embodiments, the present disclosure may also be implemented as programs recorded in a memory, which include machine-readable instructions for implementing the methods according to the present disclosure when executed by a processor. Thus, the present disclosure also covers tangible and / or non-transient computer-readable storage media that store programs for executing the methods according to the present disclosure.

[0072] Computer-readable storage media can be any available storage media accessible to a computer, and include volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. As an example and not limitation, computer-readable storage media can be implemented in conjunction with any method or technology for storing information, such as computer-readable instructions, program modules, structured data, or unstructured data. Tangible and / or non-temporary computer-readable storage media can include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD) or other optical disc storage, cassette tape, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, and / or other media that can be used to store the desired information.

[0073] Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail by way of examples, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above examples are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that modifications may be made to the above embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A medical follow-up device comprising: a memory having instructions stored thereon; and A processor is coupled to the memory, and the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the medical follow-up device to perform the following operations: Acquiring IMD operating parameters from an implantable medical device (IMD) of a patient via a probe device communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the medical follow-up device can be shared by multiple patients wearing IMDs, and the IMD operating parameters include a unique device identifier of the IMD and operating status parameters of the IMD itself; acquiring unique patient identification information via an identification device communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the operation of acquiring the unique patient identification information is within a threshold time range of the operation of acquiring the IMD operating parameter; Associating the IMD operating parameter with the patient's unique identification information so as to identify the IMD operating parameter based on the patient's unique identification information; as well as transmitting IMD operating parameters associated with the patient's unique identification information to a remote device; as well as Retrieving medical data associated with the IMD from a remote device based on the patient's unique identification information, including: In response to the patient's unique identification information being recorded in the remote device, retrieving medical data including historical IMD operating parameters and patient medical record data based on the patient's unique identification information; as well as In response to the patient's unique identification information not being recorded in the remote device, historical IMD operating parameters of the same IMD are retrieved based on the IMD operating parameters associated with the patient's unique identification information.

2. The medical follow-up device according to claim 1, wherein: The operation of obtaining the patient's unique identification information is performed simultaneously with or within a threshold time range after the operation of obtaining the IMD operating parameters.

3. The medical follow-up device according to claim 2, wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the medical follow-up device further performs the following operations: A determination is made based on the medical data as to whether the IMD operating parameters are compatible with the patient's medical condition.

4. The medical follow-up device according to claim 1 , wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the medical follow-up device further performs the following operations: A determination is made based on the IMD operating parameters as to whether the IMD is in a normal operating state.

5. The medical follow-up device according to claim 1 , wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the medical follow-up device further causes the medical follow-up device to: Generating a follow-up report for the patient based on the IMD operating parameters and the patient's unique identification information, including: The IMD operating parameters are parsed, and the parsed results are entered into corresponding fields in the electronic template of the follow-up report to generate the follow-up report.

6. The medical follow-up device according to claim 5, wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the medical follow-up device further performs the following operations: A printing device communicatively coupled to the processor is instructed to print the follow-up report.

7. The medical follow-up device according to claim 1, wherein the IMD comprises at least one of a cardiac pacemaker, a cardioverter-defibrillator, a cardiac resynchronization pacemaker, a cardiac resynchronization defibrillator, or an implantable electrocardiogram recorder. 8 . The medical follow-up device according to claim 1 , wherein the identity recognition device comprises at least one of a camera, a barcode scanner, an integrated circuit (IC) card reader, a radio frequency card recognition device, and a biometric recognition device. 9 . The medical follow-up device according to claim 1 , wherein the medical follow-up device is an integrated device comprising a probe device and an identity recognition device.

10. The medical follow-up device according to claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the medical follow-up device to: In response to the remote device having recorded therein the patient's unique identification information associated with the IMD operating parameters, obtaining the patient's unique identification information associated with the IMD from the remote device; and In response to determining that the patient unique identification information obtained via the identification device matches the patient unique identification information obtained from the remote device, the IMD operating parameter is associated with the patient unique identification information obtained via the identification device.

11. The medical follow-up device according to claim 1 , wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the instructions further cause the medical follow-up device to: Obtaining the doctor's identification information via the identification device; and In response to determining that the doctor has programming authority for the IMD based on the doctor identification information, the doctor is allowed to adjust the IMD operating parameters via a probe device.

12. A method for operating a medical follow-up device, comprising: Acquiring IMD operating parameters from the patient's implantable medical device (IMD) via the probe device, wherein the medical follow-up device can be shared by multiple patients wearing IMDs, and the IMD operating parameters include a unique device identifier of the IMD and operating status parameters of the IMD itself; Acquiring unique identification information of the patient via the identification device within a threshold time range of the operation of acquiring the IMD operating parameters; Associating the IMD operating parameter with the patient's unique identification information so as to identify the IMD operating parameter based on the patient's unique identification information; transmitting IMD operating parameters associated with the patient's unique identification information to a remote device; as well as Retrieving medical data associated with the IMD from a remote device based on the patient's unique identification information, including: In response to the patient's unique identification information being recorded in the remote device, retrieving medical data including historical IMD operating parameters and patient medical record data based on the patient's unique identification information; as well as In response to the patient's unique identification information not being recorded in the remote device, historical IMD operating parameters of the same IMD are retrieved based on the IMD operating parameters associated with the patient's unique identification information.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: The acquiring of the patient's unique identification information is performed at the same time as or within a threshold time range after the acquiring of the IMD operating parameters.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: A determination is made based on the medical data as to whether the IMD operating parameters are compatible with the patient's medical condition.

15. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: A determination is made based on the IMD operating parameters as to whether the IMD is in a normal operating state.

16. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: A follow-up report for the patient is generated based on the IMD operating parameters and the patient's unique identification information.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the IMD comprises at least one of a cardiac pacemaker, a cardioverter-defibrillator, a cardiac resynchronization pacemaker, a cardiac resynchronization defibrillator, or an implantable electrocardiogram (ECG) recorder.

18. The method according to claim 12, wherein the identity recognition device comprises at least one of a camera, a barcode scanner, an integrated circuit (IC) card reader, a radio frequency card recognition device, and a biometric recognition device.

19. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: In response to the remote device having recorded therein the patient's unique identification information associated with the IMD operating parameter, obtaining the patient's unique identification information associated with the IMD from the remote device; as well as In response to determining that the patient unique identification information obtained via the identification device matches the patient unique identification information obtained from the remote device, the IMD operating parameter is associated with the patient unique identification information obtained via the identification device.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising: Obtaining the doctor's identity information via the identity recognition device; as well as In response to determining that the physician has programming authority for the IMD based on the physician identification information, the physician is allowed to adjust an operating parameter of the IMD via a probe device.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 12-20.

22. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to any one of claims 12-20.

Images