Implantable cardiac pacer having dual frequency programming and bipolar/unipolar lead programmability

摘要

The stimulation output of an implanted cardiac pacer is applied between a cathode at the end of a pacer lead in the heart and an anode whose location is programmable. An electronic switch accessed via programming designates the pulse generator pace as the anode for an additional electrode located near the end of the pacer lead, thus changing the pacer from unipolar to bipolar operation or vice-a-versa after implantation. Different programming pulse rates are used to program different functional characteristics. For example, pulses at one rate select mode, high or low frequency range, sensitivity and anode location while pulses at another frequency set the pulse generation rate and output current.