CARDIAC STIMULATOR WITH LEAD FAILURE DETECTOR AND WARNING SYSTEM

摘要

A method and apparatus (62) for detecting failure or impending failure of a lead (19) connected to a cardiac stimulator (10) and for providing a warning to a patient or a patient's physician. The impedance of the lead is repeatedly measured (158) and maximum and minimum impedance limits are calculated (160, 164). Repeated impedance measurements are compared with the calculated impedance limits. If the measured impedance falls outside of these impedance limits, an alarm may be given to the patient, or a warning may be given to the patient's physician.