35 results about "Chronic atrial fibrillation" patented technology

Endoscopic subxiphoid surgical procedures and instruments facilitate translumination of tissue through the pericardium, and promote encircling an intrapericardial region with one or more tissue-ablating probes for ablating cardiac tissue substantially encircling the left and right pulmonary veins as a treatment for chronic atrial fibrillation. Such endoscopic subxiphoid surgical procedures and instruments also facilitate placement of epicardial tacks about the annulus of the mitral valve for supporting a tensioned suture or band that decreases the size of the mitral annulus to repair a regurgitant valve. Suction-oriented instruments facilitate temporary attachment to an organ to establish precise positioning on the organ during a surgical procedure.

An implantable cardiac stimulation device discriminates and treats accelerated atrial arrhythmias of a patient's heart. The device includes a sensing circuit that senses cardiac activity of one of the patient's atria to provide an atrial activity signal, a detector that detects an accelerated atrial arrhythmia of the patient's heart, and a classifying circuit that measures relative correspondence between successive P waves of the atrial activity signal to classify the detected accelerated atrial arrhythmia as either atrial tachycardia or atrial fibrillation. A therapy circuit provides anti-tachycardia pacing therapy responsive to a classified atrial tachycardia and defibrillation therapy responsive to a classified atrial fibrillation.

A method is provided, including identifying that a subject is at risk of suffering from atrial fibrillation (AF). Responsively to the identifying, a risk of an occurrence of an episode of the AF is reduced by applying an electrical current to a site of the subject selected from the group consisting of: a vagus nerve, a sinoatrial (SA) node fat pad, a pulmonary vein, a carotid artery, a carotid sinus, a coronary sinus, a vena cava vein, a jugular vein, an azygos vein, an innominate vein, and a subclavian vein, and configuring the current to stimulate autonomic nervous tissue in the site. Other embodiments are also described.

The present invention relates to a method for the treatment or prevention of atrial fibrillation and / or atrial flutter comprising coadministration of a synergistically therapeutic amount of dronedarone or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or salts thereof and a synergistically therapeutic amount of ranolazine or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or salts thereof. Also provided are methods for modulating ventricular and atrial rhythm and rate. This invention also relates to pharmaceutical formulations that are suitable for such combined administration.

An apparatus and method for treating atrial fibrillation with ablation therapy in which a stent is deployed within a pulmonary vein and tissue surrounding the stent is ablated with radiofrequency energy to stop discharges from ectopic foci in the vein from reaching the left atrium. The deployed stent can then be left in place to prevent stenosis of the vein as well as allowing repeat ablation procedures as needed.

At the present time, physicians often treat patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) using radiofrequency (RF) catheter systems to ablate conducting tissue in the wall of the Left Atrium of the heart around the ostium of the pulmonary veins. These systems are expensive and take time consuming to use. The present invention circular ablation system CAS includes a multiplicity of expandable needles that can be expanded around a central axis and positioned to inject a fluid like ethanol to ablate conductive tissue in a ring around the ostium of a pulmonary vein quickly and without the need for expensive capital equipment. The expansion of the needles is accomplished by self-expanding or balloon expandable structures. The invention includes centering means so that the needles will be situated in a pattern surrounding the outside of the ostium of a vein. Also included are members that limit the distance of penetration of the needles into the wall of the left atrium. The present invention also has application to ablating tissue around the ostium of a renal artery for the treatment of hypertension.

A method for treating atrial fibrillation in an atrium of a heart includes (a) acquiring an image or map of the atrium; (b) displaying the image or map of the atrium; (c) marking at least one feature on the image or map; (d) calculating dimensions of the at least one feature; (e) identifying one or more points on or within the atrium for treatment as part of a treatment plan; (f) determining paths to the one or more points on or within the atrium for treatment; (g) simulating insertion of a sheath into the atrium; (h) simulating insertion of a medical device through the sheath and into the atrium; (i) verifying that the one or more points on or within the atrium can be accessed for treatment; (j) computing an overall surface area of the atrium; (k) calculating an estimated area not treated in the atrium based on the treatment plan; (l) assessing whether macro-reentrant circuits can exist in the estimated area not treated in the atrium; (m) repeating steps (e)-(l) in the event step (l) indicates that macro-reentrant circuits can exist in the estimated area not treated in the atrium; and (n) implementing the treatment plan.

Techniques are provided for detecting atrial fibrillation (AF) based on variations in ventricular intervals detected by a pacemaker, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or implantable cardiac monitor (ICM). In one example, ventricular beats are detected and intervals between the ventricular beats are measured, such as RR intervals. Irregular ventricular beats are identified, including ectopic beats, bigeminal beats, and the like. The degree of variability within the ventricular intervals is then determined while excluding any intervals associated with irregular beats. AF is then detected based on the degree of variability. That is, AF is detected based on variability occurring within ventricular intervals after ectopic beats and other irregular beats have been eliminated, thus mitigating detection problems that might arise if the variability were instead calculated based on all ventricular beat intervals. Techniques are also described herein for distinguishing AF from sinus tachycardia, which can also cause a high degree of variability in RR intervals.

A real-time arrhythmia discrimination method is used in smartphones, which can discriminate between NSR, AF, PACs and PVCs using pulsatile time series collected from a smartphone's camera. To increase the sensitivity of AF detection and add the new capabilities of PVC and PAC identification, the arrhythmia discrimination method of these teachings combines Root Mean Square of Successive RR Differences (RMSSD), Shannon Entropy (ShE) and turning point ratio (TPR), with the Poincare plot, and utilizes the features of pulse rise / fall time and amplitude for arrhythmia discrimination.

The invention expands indications of a neuregulin in cardiovascular diseases, including sinus tachycardia and chronic atrial fibrillation. When the neuregulin is given to a mammal, the electrocardiogram PR interval thereof is found to be prolonged, and the heart rate is slowed down. The effect of slowing down the heart rate of the neuregulin can be used for anti-arrhythmias, and the chronic effect on the vagus nerve activity thereof can be used for treating sinus tachycardia and chronic atrial fibrillation.

A method is disclosed for using fructose-1,6-diphosphate (FDP) to reduce and prevent two very serious problems caused by surgery that requires cardiopulmonary bypass. Before bypass begins, a liquid that contains FDP is intravenously injected into the patient, preferably over a period such as about 10 to 30 minutes, to allow the FDP to permeate in significant quantity into the heart and lungs while the heart is still beating. FDP can be added to the cardioplegia solution that is pumped through the heart to stop the heartbeat, and / or during bypass. This treatment was found to reduce two very important and serious problems that have unavoidably plagued CPB surgery in the past, which are: (1) elevated levels of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), which includes pulmonary hypertension; and (2) high occurrence rates for atrial fibrillation. Prior to this discovery, there has never been any satisfactory treatment which could reduce the severity and occurrence rates for these two major problems. FDP also can be co-administered in this manner, along with (1) a buffering or alkalizing agent that counteracts acidosis, such as sodium bicarbonate or THAM, and / or (2) a drug that reduces the formation of lactic acid, such as dichloroacetate.

The invention provides a ballistocardiogram signal atrial fibrillation computer-aided diagnosis method based on transfer learning, wherein the method relates to the field of computer-aided diagnosis technology. The method comprises the steps of preprocessing an ECG signal and a BCG signal which are synchronously measured and the ECG signal in a current atrial fibrillation disease database, and setting the subframe length of all signal data to 24 seconds; then constructing a convolutional neural network which performs atrial fibrillation aided detection; training the constructed convolutional neural network and performing parameter updating; extracting a transfer learning characteristic vector of the actual measured BCG signal and constructing a random forest classifier; using the BCG signal in a testing set as the input of the convolutional neural network, acquiring a transfer learning model characteristic parameter and inputting into the random forest classifier, and determining whether the BCG signal is an atrial fibrillation disease type through the output result of the random classifier. The method of the invention facilitates extension of the BCG signal to a daily applicationfield and supplies a feasible plan for performing heart-related disease aided diagnosis and prediction through the BCG.

The present invention is applicable to the field of medical technology and provides a method and a device for identifying atrial fibrillation with ventricular premature contraction and atrial fibrillation with aberrant ventricular conduction. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring electrocardiosignals; determining atrial fibrillation with wide QRS waves in the electrocardiosignals; extracting feature values of the atrial fibrillation with the wide QRS in the electrocardiosignals; obtaining a recognition result by an identification algorithm model based on the feature values; identifying the atrial fibrillation with the ventricular premature contraction and the atrial fibrillation with the aberrant ventricular conduction by using the identification algorithm model; and improving recognition accuracy and recognition efficiency of the atrial fibrillation with the ventricular premature contraction and the atrial fibrillation with the aberrant ventricular conduction. The methodsolves a problem that the electrocardiosignals of the atrial fibrillation with the ventricular premature contraction and the electrocardiosignals of the atrial fibrillation with the aberrant ventricular conduction cannot be accurately identified and distinguished in the prior art.

Energy is transmitted noninvasively to a patient using electrode-based stimulation devices or magnetic stimulation devices that are designed to non-invasively stimulate nerves selectively. The devices produce impulses that are used to treat atrial fibrillation, by stimulating a vagus nerve of a patient. The devices are also used to forecast the imminent onset of atrial fibrillation and then avert it by stimulating a vagus nerve.

A method and apparatus for preventing atrial fibrillation arising from a premature atrial contraction. Upon detection of a premature atrial contraction, a pace is delivered to a ventricle at a specified AV interval selected as either a late-pace or early-pace value. The resulting ventricular depolarization then occurs during a time when the atria are not vulnerable to the triggering of fibrillation.

The invention relates to a chemical ablation device used for curing atrial fibrillation, in particular to a chemical ablation device which is used for ablation of the pulmonary vein and epicardium through a chemical reagent. The chemical ablation device used for curing the atrial fibrillation comprises a tong handle, a push rod, a tong body, a tong head, a far-side tong nozzle, a near-side tong nozzle, a first pipeline, and a second pipeline. According to the chemical ablation device used for curing the atrial fibrillation, syringe needles on the far-side tong nozzle and on the near-side tong nozzle are used for infusing the chemical ablation reagent to the pulmonary vein and atrium tissue near the pulmonary vein, and then complete ablation of vestibules surrounding the pulmonary vein is obtained with the chemical ablation method, and manufacturing cost of the ablation device and matching equipment is reduced, and cost of an atrial fibrillation surgical operation is greatly reduced.

Systems and methods for assessing hemodynamic status of a patient experiencing atrial tachyarrhythmia such as an atrial fibrillation (AF) episode are disclosed. A system can comprise an atrial tachyarrhythmia detection circuit configured to detect an AF episode, a hemodynamic sensor circuit configured to sense at least one hemodynamic signal, and a hemodynamic status analyzer circuit that can calculate one or more signal metrics using the sensed hemodynamic signal during the AF episode. The hemodynamic status analyzer circuit can categorize the hemodynamic status of the patient into one of two or more categorical hemodynamic status levels which indicate elevated hemodynamic impact of the detected AF episode. A user interface can provide to an end-user a presentation of the categorized hemodynamic status level during AF.

The invention discloses an atrial fibrillation distinguishing method. The atrial fibrillation distinguishing method comprises the following steps that original electrocardiogram data are subjected towave feature point positioning, the R-wave position and the morphological classification of a QRS composite wave are given, and RR interval information of continuous 50 or more supraventricular pulsation is distinguished; from the aspect of geometric distribution characteristics of a Lorentz scatter diagram, three characteristic data of aggregation measurement, diagonal area domination measurementand off-diagonal area linear dependence measurement are generated; and the characteristic data are synthesized, and whether atrial fibrillation occurs or not is judged according to a threshold valuemethod. According to the atrial fibrillation distinguishing method, atrial fibrillation distinguishing is conducted based on the geometric distribution characteristics of the Lorentz scatter diagram of the ventricular RR interval, and a doctor can be effectively assisted to distinguish.

Methods, systems, and devices for providing a denervating energy treatment to the tissue of the pulmonary vein and antrum region of the left atrium utilizing a catheter-based structure having one or more energy delivery surfaces. In some instances energy delivery surfaces are arranged with a circumferential and axial offset relative to one another. A pattern of individual lesions loosely approximating a helix, or other staggered pattern, or roughly circumferential are placed so as to provide a pattern which covers substantially the circumference of the treated area while avoiding stenosis. Denervating energy is applied by modulation of the energy delivery surfaces using an energy source integrated with a controller and control algorithm. In some instances feedback is used in a control algorithm for energy modulation. Energy sources are radiofrequency, ultrasound, and cryogenic.

Disclosed are a method, device, and test kit for diagnosing heart failure in a patient exhibiting atrial fibrillation. The method includes determining an amount of growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF -15) in a sample from the patient and comparing the amount of GDF-15 determined with a reference amount of GDF-15, wherein when the amount of GDF-15 determined is greater than the reference amount of GDF-15, a diagnosis of heart failure is indicated.

The invention discloses a method for establishing a dog vagal nerve trunk stimulation-induced AF (atrial fibrillation) experimental model. The method comprises the following steps: 1, narcotization of an animal; 2, placement of an electrophysiological mapping catheter; 3, electrophysiological examination; and 4, induction and termination of AF. The method for establishing the dog vagal nerve trunk stimulation-induced AF experimental model has the beneficial effects that an acute AF animal model is manufactured through accurately positioning and stimulating dog's vagal nerve trunk, vagal nerve plexus in blood vessels and an epicardial fat pad, so that the induction rate and the stability of the model are improved; the time of duration is increased; and the manufactured dog vagus nerve-mediated AF model has the characteristics of atrial muscle and pulmonary vein electrophysiological change characteristics similarity to paroxysmal AF patients.

The invention discloses a gene chip for forecasting a curative effect of a maze surgery on atrial fibrillation. The gene chip comprises an oligonucleotide probe designed according to an rs2200733 site, an rs10033464 site, an rs13376333 site, an rs6843082 site, an rs17042171 site, an rs2106261 site and an rs7193343 site and a specific primer capable of specifically amplifying DNA segments comprising the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites, wherein the 5' end of the specific primer is marked by a signal substance in advance. The gene chip can detect a plurality of SNP sites obviously related to atrial fibrillation, can screen the common people quickly and conveniently, is high in accuracy and low in cost, can be applied to batch detection, and can completely meet the large-scale gene screening requirement.

The present application discloses an ablation device and system for treating atrial fibrillation, and a fixed pathway for ablation of persistent AF. The pathway consists of bilateral circumferential pulmonary sinus isolation ('2C') and three linear ablation groups ('3L'). The ablation device and system and the fixed pathway have the advantages of less radio frequency delivery, low X-ray irradiation frequency, and shorter time spent when used in surgery.

Techniques are provided for use by implantable medical devices for controlling ventricular pacing, particularly during atrial fibrillation. In one example, during a V sense test for use in optimizing ventricular pacing, the implantable device determines relative degrees of variation within antecedent and succedent intervals detected between ventricular events sensed on left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) sensing channels. Preferred or optimal ventricular pacing delays are then determined, in part, based on a comparison of the relative degrees of variation obtained during the V sense test. In another example, during RV and LV pace tests, the device distinguishes QRS complexes arising due to interventricular conduction from QRS complexes arising due to atrioventricular conduction from the atria, so as to permit the determination of correct paced interventricular conduction delays for the patient. The paced interventricular conduction delays are also used to optimize ventricular pacing. Biventricular and monoventricular pacing regimes are provided.

Techniques are provided for use by implantable medical devices for controlling ventricular pacing, particularly during atrial fibrillation. In one example, during a V sense test for use in optimizing ventricular pacing, the implantable device determines relative degrees of variation within antecedent and succedent intervals detected between ventricular events sensed on left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) sensing channels. Preferred or optimal ventricular pacing delays are then determined, in part, based on a comparison of the relative degrees of variation obtained during the V sense test. In another example, during RV and LV pace tests, the device distinguishes QRS complexes arising due to interventricular conduction from QRS complexes arising due to atrioventricular conduction from the atria, so as to permit the determination of correct paced interventricular conduction delays for the patient. The paced interventricular conduction delays are also used to optimize ventricular pacing. Biventricular and monoventricular pacing regimes are provided.