摘要:
An implantable electroacupuncture (&Egr;&Xgr;&Agr;) device provides stimulation pulses (219) applied at a specified acupoint or other target tissue location for the treatment of specific condition. In a preferred implementation, the EA device is implantable, thin, coin-sized, self- contained and leadless (FIG. 1) having at least two electrodes (110, 120) attached to an outside surface of its housing (122, 124). The EA device generates stimulation pulses in accordance with a specified stimulation regimen (FIGS. 15A, 15B). Power management circuitry (200, 210) within the device allows a thin, coin-cell primary battery (215), having a high internal impedance, to be used to power the device. The stimulation regimen generates stimulation pulses having an amplitude of up to 25 mA during a stimulation session of duration T3 minutes applied every T4 minutes. The duty cycle, or ratio T3/T4, is very low, no greater than 0.05. The low duty cycle and careful power management allow the device to perform its intended function for several years.
摘要:
There is provided an electroacupuncture device, comprising: a housing; pulse generation circuitry located within the housing, wherein the pulse generation circuitry is adapted to generate stimulation sessions at a duty cycle that is less than 0.05, and apply the stimulation sessions to a location within a patient by way of an electrode array communicatively coupled to the pulse generation circuitry; and a primary battery located within the housing and having an internal impedance greater than 5 ohms, the primary battery configured to provide operating power to the pulse generation circuitry; wherein each stimulation session included in the stimulation sessions comprises a series of stimulation pulses, the duty cycle is a ratio of T3 to T4, and each stimulation session included in the stimulation sessions has a duration of T3 minutes and occurs at a rate of once every T4 minutes.
摘要:
An implantable electroacupuncture device (IEAD) (200) treats a medical condition through application of stimulation pulses applied at a specified target tissue location at a very low duty cycle. In a preferred implementation, the IEAD (100, 200) is an implantable, coin-sized, self-contained, leadless device having at least two electrodes (110, 120, 210a, 220) attached to an outside surface of its housing (124, 122), with at least one electrode on the top (210a) or bottom (210b) surface of the housing functioning as a cathode, and at least one electrode (120, 220) on the perimeter edge of the housing functioning as an anode. The electrodes may be segmented to include an array of smaller cathodic (212a, 212b, 212c, 212d) or anodic (220a, 220b, 220c, 220d) electrodes, each of which may be selectively turned ON or OFF with appropriate switching circuitry (214a, 214b, 218) to provide a way to adjust the density of the stimulus current flowing through the respective electrode surface areas.