US 12,220,588 B2
Implantable medical device for stimulating a human or animal heart
Madeline Anne Midgett, Portland, OR (US); Burkhard Huegerich, Portland, OR (US); and R. Hollis Whittington, Portland, OR (US)
Assigned to BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG, Berlin (DE)
Filed by BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG, Berlin (DE)
Filed on Nov. 15, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/509,588.
Application 18/509,588 is a division of application No. 17/797,165, granted, now 11,850,432, previously published as PCT/EP2021/050286, filed on Jan. 8, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/969,179, filed on Feb. 3, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 20158056 (EP), filed on Feb. 18, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0082585 A1, Mar. 14, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A61N 1/37 (2006.01)
CPC A61N 1/3712 (2013.01) 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for controlling the operation of an implantable medical device for stimulating a human or animal heart, the method comprising the following steps:
a) detecting, with a detection unit for detecting an electrical signal of a human or animal heart, capture thresholds during an observation period, each capture threshold being detected in response to at least one pacing pulse delivered by a stimulation unit for stimulating a cardiac region of the same heart;
b) storing the detected capture thresholds in a memory unit of the implantable medical device;
c) determining threshold-to-threshold differences between two consecutive capture thresholds; and
d) when a maximum determined threshold-to-threshold difference within the observation period is equal to or greater than a predetermined limit, adjusting a pacing output of the stimulation unit on the basis of the maximum capture threshold determined within a first time period, the first time period being equal to or shorter than the observation period; or when the maximum determined threshold-to-threshold difference within the observation period is smaller than the predetermined limit, adjusting the pacing output of the stimulation unit on the basis of the maximum capture threshold determined within a second time period, the second time period being shorter than the first time period.