Systems and methods for delivering vagal nerve stimulation

摘要

According to various method embodiments, a person is indicated for a therapy to treat a cardiovascular disease, and the therapy is delivered to the person to treat the cardiovascular disease. Delivering the therapy includes delivering a vagal stimulation therapy (VST) to a vagus nerve of the person at a therapeutically-effective intensity for the cardiovascular disease that is below an upper boundary at which upper boundary the VST would lower an intrinsic heart rate during the VST.

主权项

1. A system, comprising:
a patient-operable external controller configured to transmit a signal associated with a titration command; and an implantable neurostimulator configured to receive the signal, the implantable neurostimulator comprising:
a pulse generator configured to deliver, through at least one electrode configured to be operably positioned proximate to a cervical vagus nerve, a therapy including continuously-cycling, intermittent and periodic pulses delivered at an intensity that avoids acute physiological side effects and with an unchanging cycle not triggered by physiological markers in a manner that non-selectively stimulates both afferent axons and efferent axons in the cervical vagus nerve of a patient; anda memory configured to store instructions for titrating the intensity of the electrical pulses including instructions for titrating one or more pulse parameters selected from the group consisting of an amplitude, a pulse width and a pulse frequency and instructions for preventing titration of the intensity by titration of one or more pulse parameters selected from the group consisting of an amplitude, a pulse width and a pulse frequency from exceeding an upper bound for the intensity, wherein the implantable neurostimulator includes processing circuitry configured to operate on the instructions to titrate the intensity of the electrical pulses in response to the signal associated with the titration command.