Systems and methods for controlling wirelessly powered leadless pacemakers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11911625-B2
Application number	US-201917295005-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2019
Priority date	Nov 20, 2018
Publication date	Feb 27, 2024
Grant date	Feb 27, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods for heart stimulation in accordance with embodiments of the invention are illustrated. One embodiment includes a heart stimulation system, including a first wirelessly powered, leadless pacemaker, including a wireless power receiver tuned to a first frequency, an energy harvesting circuitry, a stimulation circuitry, and a stimulation electrode, a controller, including a wireless power signal generator, a wireless power transmitter tuned to the frequency, a processor, and a memory containing a stimulation control application, where the stimulation control application directs the processor to generate a power transfer signal using the first wireless power signal generator, and transmit the power transfer signal using the wireless power transmitter, wherein the wirelessly powered, leadless pacemaker receives the power transfer signal using the first wireless power receiver, and when receiving the power transfer signal, the energy harvesting circuitry stores power received via the wireless power receiver in at least one capacitor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heart stimulation system, comprising:
a controller, comprising:
at least one wireless power signal generator configured to generate at least one power transfer signal;
at least one wireless power transmitter configured to transmit the at least one power transfer signal;
a memory containing a stimulation control application; and
a processor configured to execute the stimulation control application to generate and transmit the at least one power transfer signal; and

one or more wirelessly powered, leadless pacemakers (WPLPs), each WPLP comprising:
a wireless power receiver configured to receive a power transfer signal from the at least one power transfer signal;
an energy harvesting circuitry configured to store energy from the received power transfer signal; and
a stimulation circuitry configured to deliver the stored energy via a stimulation electrode which is triggered by a zero-amplitude gap in the power transfer signal.

2. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one wireless power transmitter is a near field resonant coupling based transmitter coil and the wireless power receiver is a near field resonant coupling based receiver coil.

3. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one wireless power transmitter is a far field propagating electromagnetic wave receiver antenna and the wireless power receiver is a far field propagating electromagnetic wave transmitter antenna.

4. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more WPLPs includes a first WPLP and a second WPLP, and wherein:
a first wireless power receiver of the first WPLP is tuned to a first frequency;
a second wireless power receiver of the second WPLP is tuned to a second frequency; and
the stimulation control application is executable by the processor to cause the at least one wireless power signal generator and the at least one wireless power transmitter to generate and transmit a first power transfer signal at the first frequency and a second power transfer signal at the second frequency.

5. The heart stimulation system of claim 4 , wherein the stimulation control application is executable by the processor to time the transmission of the first power transfer signal and the second power transfer signal such that stimulation by the first WPLP and the second WPLP provide stimulation at a determined time relative to each other.

6. The heart stimulation system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one wireless power transmitter comprises a first wireless power transmitter configured to transmit at the first frequency, and a second wireless power transmitter configured to transmit at the second frequency; and
wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are selected such that the first wireless power transmitter does not couple with the second wireless power receiver, and the second wireless power transmitter does not couple with the first wireless power receiver.

7. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more WPLPs includes a first WPLP and a second WPLP, and wherein:
a first wireless power receiver of the first WPLP and a second wireless power receiver of the second WPLP are tuned to a first frequency;
the stimulation control application is executable by the processor to encode a power transfer signal at the first frequency with first control information associated with a first unique label assigned to the first WPLP and with second control information associated with a second unique label assigned to the second WPLP; and
wherein the first control information indicates when the first WPLP delivers stored energy of the first WPLP and the second control information indicates when the first WPLP delivers stored energy of the second WPLP.

8. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one wireless power transmitter includes a wireless power transmitter that is tunable to a plurality of frequencies.

9. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is an extracorporeal device.

10. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to be implanted subcutaneously.

11. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more WPLPs includes a first WPLP and a second WPLP and the first WPLP is configured to stimulate a first chamber of a heart and the second WPLP is configured to stimulate the first chamber of the heart.

12. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more WPLPs includes a first WPLP and a second WPLP and the first WPLP is configured to stimulate a first chamber of a heart, and the second WPLP is configured to stimulate a second chamber of the heart.

13. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more WPLPs includes a first WPLP configured to stimulate a blood vessel in order to deliver an electrical stimulation to a heart.

14. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more WPLPs includes a first WPLP and a second WPLP and the first WPLP is configured to stimulate a chamber of a heart, and the second WPLP is configured to stimulate a blood vessel in order to deliver an electrical stimulation to the heart.

15. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more WPLPs includes a first WPLP comprising sensing circuitry and the transmission of the at least one power transfer signal induces the first WPLP to deliver an electrical therapy to a heart in order to maintain a normal heart condition; and
the sensing circuitry of the first WPLP is configured to sense heart activity.

16. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein the WPLP includes sensing circuitry configured to sense and/or monitor biological activity, including heartbeats, temperature, blood flow, and/or motion.

17. The heart stimulation system of claim 16 , wherein the wireless power receiver of the WPLP is configured to transmit the sensed biological activity to the controller.

18. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one wireless power transmitter includes transmission coils, RF signal generators, and/or antennas configured to generate a magnetic field;
the wireless power receiver includes at least one coil; and
the at least one power transmitter and the wireless power receiver perform inductive power transfer using radio-frequency induction.

19. The heart stimulation system of claim 18 , wherein the at least one power transmitter and wireless power receiver coils are actively tuned to a resonant frequency.

20. The heart stimulation system of claim 1 , further comprising a hydrogel encapsulating and/or coating at least a portion of the WPLP, wherein the hydrogel is electrically conductive and/or magnetically active.

21. The heart stimulation system of claim 20 , wherein the hydrogel is configured to operate as an antenna of the WPLP.

Assignees

• Univ California
• Texas Heart Inst

Inventors

• Babakhani Aydin
• Lyu Hongming
• Mehdi Razavi
• John Mathews M
• Post Allison

Classifications

• A61N1/3756 Primary

  Casings with electrodes thereon, e.g. leadless stimulators · CPC title

• A61N1/3684

  for stimulating the heart at multiple sites of the ventricle or the atrium · CPC title

• A61N1/3787 Primary

  from an external energy source · CPC title

• A61N1/37288

  Communication to several implantable medical devices within one patient · CPC title

• A61N1/37512

  Pacemakers · CPC title