Pulmonary Artery Pressure Sensor for Adaptive Cardiac Pacing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for managing hypertension in patients with implanted cardiac devices are inadequate, as they often fail to respond to lifestyle changes and medications, leading to continued elevated blood pressure and associated heart issues.
Innovation Solution
A system incorporating a pulmonary artery pressure sensor to detect abnormal blood pressure conditions, which automatically adjusts pacing characteristics or vagal nerve stimulation in response to sensed pulmonary artery pressure signals, allowing for real-time therapeutic interventions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a pulmonary artery pressure sensor is implanted to enable real-time blood pressure monitoring and automatic pacing adjustment, then blood pressure management effectiveness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the pulmonary artery pressure sensing function with the existing cardiac pacing device into a single integrated system. The pressure sensor, diagnostic circuit, and pacing generator are merged into one implantable device, allowing simultaneous monitoring and therapy delivery without requiring separate devices. This reduces overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive blood pressure management capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The implantable device is designed to perform multiple functions: sensing pulmonary artery pressure, detecting abnormal blood pressure conditions, and delivering both pacing therapy and vagal nerve stimulation. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for separate dedicated devices for each function, thereby improving management effectiveness while controlling device complexity through consolidation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If automatic adjustment of pacing characteristics is implemented in response to detected abnormal BP conditions, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device implements a closed-loop feedback system where the pulmonary artery pressure sensor continuously monitors blood pressure conditions, the diagnostic circuit analyzes the sensed data to detect abnormal conditions, and the implantable pulse generator automatically adjusts pacing characteristics or delivers vagal nerve stimulation in response. This automated feedback mechanism improves adaptability to varying BP conditions while minimizing the need for manual intervention and complex external programming.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is designed to autonomously detect abnormal blood pressure conditions and self-adjust therapeutic parameters without requiring external programmer intervention. The device automatically modifies pacing rate, pacing waveform, AV delay, VV delay, pacing mode, or pacing site based on real-time pressure sensing, enabling self-service operation that enhances adaptability while keeping the control system manageable.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple pacing characteristics can be automatically altered including pacing rate, waveform, AV delay, VV delay, mode, or site, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device incorporates dynamic adjustment capabilities for multiple pacing parameters including pacing rate, pacing waveform, AV delay, VV delay, pacing mode, and pacing site. The system can automatically alter these parameters in real-time based on detected blood pressure conditions, providing comprehensive adaptability. The dynamic nature of the control system allows it to respond flexibly to varying physiological states while maintaining a unified control architecture that manages the complexity of multiple adjustable parameters.
Data Source
AI summary
An example relates to a method for sensing a pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) and providing a sensed PAP signal, detecting an abnormal blood pressure (BP) condition using information from the sensed PAP signal, delivering a pacing energy to a heart, and automatically altering at least one pacing characteristic in response to the detected abnormal BP condition. The detecting an abnormal BP condition can include detecting various forms of hypertension or hypotension. The automatically altering the at least one pacing characteristic can include automatically altering at least one of a pacing rate, a pacing waveform, an atriventricular (AV) delay, an interventricular (VV) delay, a pacing mode, or a pacing site. The method can also include delivering vagal nerve stimulation and automatically altering the vagal nerve stimulation in response to the detected abnormal BP condition. The detecting the abnormal BP condition can also include using a sensed auxiliary physiological parameter.