Detector-based arterial stimulation

Inventors

Dagan, Amir • Gross, Yossi • Reisner, Yotam • Glasberg, Offer • Hanani, Nitai • Ariav, Gal • Meiri, Oded

Assignees

Enopace Biomedical Ltd

Abstract

Apparatus is provided, including (1) an external device, configured for placement outside of a body of a subject and to sense a factor of the subject, and to generate a signal in response to the sensed factor, and (2) an implant, which comprises a wireless receiver for receiving the signal, and at least one electrode, the implant configured to drive the electrode to apply current to an aortic and/or vagal site of the subject in response to the signal.

Core Innovation

The invention provides a detector-based closed-loop apparatus for treating a subject using an external device and an implant. The external device includes a detector configured to detect a factor associated with a state of the subject and a control unit that automatically generates a signal. The implant includes an antenna configured to be placed in an artery of the subject to receive the signal, an effector element comprising at least one electrode couplable to an arterial site, and a driver unit coupled to the antenna to drive a current into the electrode implantation site to stimulate the implantation site responsively to the signal.

A key aspect of the closed-loop operation is impedance-aware modulation. The control unit is configured to detect a level of impedance of the antenna and to modulate the signal at least partially in response to the level of impedance of the antenna and the detected factor associated with the state of the subject. Dependent claims refine this by deriving an artery diameter from the antenna impedance level and configuring the signal responsively to the derived diameter.

The disclosed system further supports wireless delivery of the signal to the implant and specifies that radio frequency signal generation and receiving are used in the method aspects. In the treatment implementations, electrical stimulation is performed at an electrode implantation site including an aortic site and/or a vagal site, where stimulation is responsive to the modulated signal. The document ties the stimulation outcomes to effects such as reduced ventricular/aortic pressure, increased aortic compliance, decreased sympathetic tone and increased parasympathetic tone, and reductions in heart rate and in heart rate variability LF/HF ratio.

Claims Coverage

The document includes three independent claims: clm-00001 (apparatus), clm-00017 (method with extracorporeal detection and intracorporeal antenna reception with impedance-based modulation), and clm-00029 (method generating a radio frequency signal with impedance-based modulation of stimulating current). The inventive features across the independent claims focus on impedance-aware closed-loop signal/current modulation for intracorporeal delivery and electrode stimulation, where the modulation is driven at least partially by detected antenna impedance and, in some claims, a detected factor associated with the subject state (or a derived vessel parameter).

Across the independent claims, the core coverage is an impedance-informed feedback loop in which detected antenna impedance is used to modulate a received signal (and, in another claim, the stimulating current). The apparatus and methods integrate extracorporeal detection of a factor associated with the subject state into automatic signal generation, and they deliver the signal to an intracorporeal antenna to drive electrode stimulation at the implantation site.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications