Methods and systems for controlling blood pressure by controlling atrial pressure

Inventors

Mika, Yuval • Sherman, Darren • Schwartz, Robert S. • Van Tassel, Robert A. • Burkhoff, Daniel

Assignees

BackBeat Medical LLC

Abstract

Systems and methods for controlling blood pressure by controlling atrial pressure and atrial stretch are disclosed. In some embodiments, a stimulation circuit may be configured to deliver a stimulation pulse to at least one cardiac chamber of a heart of a patient, and at least one controller may be configured to execute delivery of one or more stimulation patterns of stimulation pulses to the at least one cardiac chamber, wherein at least one of the stimulation pulses stimulates the heart such that an atrial pressure resulting from atrial contraction of an atrium overlaps in time a passive pressure build-up of the atrium, such that an atrial pressure of the atrium resulting from the stimulation is a combination of the atrial pressure resulting from atrial contraction and the passive pressure build-up and is higher than an atrial pressure of the atrium would be without the stimulation, and such that the blood pressure of the patient is reduced.

Core Innovation

The patent describes a system and method for reducing blood pressure in a hypertensive patient by delivering stimulation pulses to at least one cardiac chamber. A controller executes delivery of one or more stimulation patterns, and at least one stimulation pulse stimulates the heart such that an atrial pressure resulting from atrial contraction overlaps in time a passive pressure build-up of the atrium, producing an atrial pressure higher than without the stimulation.

The stimulation reduces the patient’s blood pressure and has an immediate effect on reduction of blood pressure. The described approach relies on timing so that the overlap between atrial contraction pressure and passive atrial pressure build-up occurs in time due to the stimulation pattern delivered to the cardiac chamber.

The content also describes stimulation patterns intended to reduce or prevent atrial kick, with delivery configured based on need and constrained by at least a part of a 24-hour period and/or a heart rate below a predefined threshold. It further includes selecting and adjusting stimulation patterns using sensed parameters such as measured blood pressure parameters and baroreflex, including closed-loop adjustment based on sensed baroreflex, as well as time- and activity-dependent need-based delivery.

Claims Coverage

The provided content includes two independent claims. Both independent claims share the same core inventive concept: reducing blood pressure in a hypertensive patient via stimulation patterns that create atrial pressure overlap between atrial contraction and passive atrial pressure build-up, producing higher atrial pressure than without stimulation and providing immediate blood-pressure reduction.

Across both independent claims, the inventive coverage is centered on a stimulation-driven atrial pressure overlap that produces higher atrial pressure than without stimulation and reduces patient blood pressure with an immediate effect, implemented as either a system with a controller and stimulation circuit or a method using an implanted heart muscle stimulator.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications