Grounding of a shield within an implantable medical lead

摘要

Implantable medical leads include a shield that is guarded at a termination by having a first portion and a second portion of the shield, where the first portion is between a termination of the shield at the second portion and an inner insulation layer that surrounds the filars. The first portion may reduce the coupling of RF energy from the termination of the shield at the second portion to the filars. The first and second portions may be part of a continuous shield, where the first and second portions are separated by an inversion of the shield. The first and second portions may instead be separate pieces. The first portion may be noninverted and reside between the termination at the second portion and the inner layers, or the first portion may be inverted to create first and second sub-portions. The shield termination at the second portion is between the first and second sub-portions.

主权项

1. A method of grounding a braided shield of an implantable medical lead, comprising:
providing at least one point along the lead where a thickness of a jacket covering the braided shield such that the thickness of the jacket around a complete circumference of the lead is within a range of zero to less than a thickness of the jacket at areas on either side of the at least one point such that only the thickness of the jacket at the at least one point covers the braided shield around the complete circumference of the lead at the at least one point; and establishing a ground path at the at least one point.