Atrial defibrillator employing transvenous and subcutaneous electrodes and ...

[54] ATRIAL DEFIBRILLATOR EMPLOYING TRANSVENOUS AND SUBCUTANEOUS ELECTRODES AND METHOD OF USE

[75] Inventor: Gust H. Brady, Seattle, Wash.

[73] Assignee: Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.

[21] Appl. No.: 83,136

[22] Filed: Jun. 24,1993

[51] Int. CI.' A61N 1/39

[52] U.S.C1 607/5; 607/119;

607/36; 607/37

[58] Field of Search 607/5, 4, 36, 119, 129,

607/116, 37

[56] References Cited

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FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

9218198 10/1992 World Int. Prop. O. .

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

"Safety and Feasibility of Transvenous Cardioversion in Atrial Tachycardia" by Blanc et al., pp. 1526-1529. "Elective Countershock in Atrial Fibrillation with an Intracardiac Electrod-A Preliminary Report", by Jain et al., in Journal of the Association of Physicians of India 18:821, 1970.

"Onset and Stability for Ventricular Tachyarrhythmia Detection in an IMplantable Pacer-Cardioverter-Defibrillator" by Olson et al., in Computers in Cardiology, Oct. 7-10, 1986, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 167-170.

Primary Examiner—William E. Kamm

Assistant Examiner—Kennedy J. Schaetzle

Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Reed A. Duthler; Harold R.

Patton

An atrial defibrillation pulse generator and lead system particularly adapted to allow for implant via a single incision. The electrode system includes of a coronary sinus electrode and a subcutaneous electrode, which is preferably located on the housing of the implantable defibrillator. The coronary sinus and subcutaneous electrodes are used for atrial defibrillation, or alternatively for both atrial and ventricular defibrillation, with higher energy pulses being delivered during ventricular defibrillation. The defibrillator is preferably planted in the left pectoral region of the body, and includes a pulse generator for applying biphasic defibrillation pulses between the electrodes. Additional electrodes located in the right ventricle and/or superior vena cava may also be employed.

17 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets