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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8180462 | Heat dissipation for a lead assembly A method, system, and apparatus are provided for using an electrode for delivering an electrical signal to a first tissue of a patient's body. An electrode system comprises a lead and an electrode coupled to the lead. The electrode includes a stimulation portion tha... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8150524 | Selective neurostimulation for treating epilepsy A method and device for treating epilepsy are disclosed which provide for electrical, chemical or magnetic stimulation of certain areas of the brain to modulate neuronal activity of areas associated with symptoms of epilepsy. Deep brain stimulation is combined with ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 7962214 | Non-surgical device and methods for trans-esophageal vagus nerve stimulation A method and apparatus for providing trans-esophageal electrical signal therapy to a portion of a vagus nerve of a patient to treat a medical condition. An implantable medical device comprising at least one electrode is implanted in an inner lumen of the esophagus o... | 06/14/2011 |
| 7904175 | Trans-esophageal vagus nerve stimulation Devices and methods of non-surgically providing vagus nerve therapy trans-esophageally to treat a variety of medical conditions are disclosed herein. In an embodiment, an implantable medical device comprises a support member having an outer surface. The support memb... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7899540 | Noninvasively adjustable gastric band A method and apparatus for treatment of an eating disorder includes electrically stimulating the vagus nerve of the lower esophagus, cardia, esophageal/cardia junction, cardia/fundus junction or upper stomach so as to induce afferent action potentials on the vagus n... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7869885 | Threshold optimization for tissue stimulation therapy Methods and systems for determining an optimal therapeutic window of parameter settings for nerve stimulation therapy are described herein. The disclosed techniques generally utilize one or more parameter sweeps to determine upper and lower threshold settings. The d... | 01/11/2011 |
| 7869884 | Non-surgical device and methods for trans-esophageal vagus nerve stimulation Devices and methods of non-surgically providing vagus nerve therapy trans-esophageally to treat a variety of medical conditions are disclosed herein. In an embodiment, an implantable medical device comprises a support member having an outer surface. The support memb... | 01/11/2011 |
| 7869867 | Implantable neurostimulator with refractory stimulation In some embodiments, a method comprises providing an electrical signal to a nerve to evoke an action potential. The nerve thereby enters a refractory period in which the nerve is in a refractory state. The method further comprises, during the refractory period, prov... | 01/11/2011 |
| 7856273 | Autonomic nerve stimulation to treat a gastrointestinal disorder A method and apparatus for stimulating a portion of a vagus nerve of a patient to treat a gastrointestinal disorder is provided. At least one electrode is coupled to at least one portion of a vagus nerve of the patient. The portion of the a vagus nerve may include a... | 12/21/2010 |
| 7840280 | Cranial nerve stimulation to treat a vocal cord disorder Disclosed is a method of treating a patient having a vocal cord disorder, comprising coupling at least one electrode to at least one cranial nerve of the patient, wherein the cranial nerve is selected from the group consisting of a vagus nerve, a trigeminal nerve, a... | 11/23/2010 |
| 7835796 | Weight loss method and device A method and apparatus for treatment of an eating disorder includes electrically, mechanically and/or pharmaceutically/chemically stimulating a of the vagus nerve of the lower esophagus, cardia, esophageal/cardia junction, cardia/fundus junction or upper stomach so ... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7818069 | Ribbon electrode We disclose an electrode assembly comprising a ribbon electrode having a first surface and a second surface; a plurality of bosses disposed on the second surface of the ribbon electrode, wherein each boss has a third surface substantially not in contact with the sec... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7801601 | Controlling neuromodulation using stimulus modalities A method, apparatus, and system for affecting neuromodulation based upon an evoking signal applied to a patient's body. An internal and/or external evoking and/or therapeutic signal is applied to a first target portion of a patient's body. Data relating to a physiol... | 09/21/2010 |
| 7729760 | Patient management system for providing parameter data for an implantable medical device A method, system, graphical user interface, and apparatus are provided for performing a patient management function providing parameter data for delivering a therapeutic signal. A first electrical signal comprising a first therapy parameter is applied to a portion o... | 06/01/2010 |
| 7711419 | Neurostimulator with reduced size A method, system, and an apparatus for providing a therapy neurostimulation signal. The apparatus includes a sealed housing being of a total volume of less than about 14.5 cc and a power supply contained within the sealed housing. The power supply includes a charge ... | 05/04/2010 |
| 7706875 | Modulation of drug effects by vagus nerve stimulation A method of treating a patient undergoing pharmacotherapy with a selected drug for treatment of a medical disorder is provided which comprises: (a) administering the selected drug to said patient at a first time point, to treat the medical disorder; and (b) applying... | 04/27/2010 |
| 7706874 | Stimulating cranial nerve to treat disorders associated with the thyroid gland A method, system, and an apparatus for stimulating a cranial nerve of a patient to treat a disorder, such as a metabolic or an endocrine disorder associated with the thyroid gland with an implantable medical device are provided. The method comprises coupling an elec... | 04/27/2010 |
| 7657310 | Treatment of reproductive endocrine disorders by vagus nerve stimulation I disclose a method of treating a reproductive endocrine disorder in a patient, including coupling at least one electrode to at least one portion of a cranial nerve of the patient; and applying an electrical signal to said cranial nerve using said electrode to treat... | 02/02/2010 |
| 7620455 | Cranial nerve stimulation to treat eating disorders Methods and systems of treating a patient having an eating disorder involving coupling at least one electrode to at least one cranial nerve of the patient, implanting a sensory stimulation device in the patient, applying a sensory stimulus to the patient using the s... | 11/17/2009 |
| 7567840 | Lead condition assessment for an implantable medical device A method, system, and apparatus for performing a lead condition assessment and/or a lead orientation determination associated with an implantable medical device (IMD). A first impedance is determined. The first impedance relates to the impedance relative to a first ... | 07/28/2009 |
| 7561918 | Autocapture in a neurostimulator A method (and associated apparatus) of providing electrical neurostimulation therapy to a patient using an implanted neurostimulator comprises (a) delivering an electrical stimulation to a nerve and (b) determining whether a predetermined condition has occurred as a... | 07/14/2009 |
| 7555344 | Selective neurostimulation for treating epilepsy A method and device for treating epilepsy are disclosed which provide for electrical, chemical or magnetic stimulation of certain areas of the brain to modulate neuronal activity of areas associated with symptoms of epilepsy. Deep brain stimulation is combined with ... | 06/30/2009 |
| 7532935 | Selective neurostimulation for treating mood disorders A method and device for treating a mood and/or anxiety disorder are disclosed which comprise electrical, chemical or magnetic stimulation of certain areas of the brain to modulate neuronal activity of areas associated with symptoms of mood disorders. In certain embo... | 05/12/2009 |
| 7499752 | Selective nerve stimulation for the treatment of eating disorders A method and apparatus for treating persons suffering from an eating disorder includes direct or indirect stimulation of selected areas of the brain associated with a symptom of the eating disorder. The stimulation regimen is programmable to enable physician optimiz... | 03/03/2009 |
| 7489561 | Implantable medical device with reconfigurable non-volatile program A device comprises a stimulus generator comprising an instruction processor. The stimulus generator is configured to deliver stimuli to a biological tissue. The device also comprises a non-volatile memory for storing instructions directly executable by the instructi... | 02/10/2009 |
| 7467016 | Multipolar stimulation electrode with mating structures for gripping targeted tissue An implantable electrode assembly for gripping nerves or other bodily structures is disclosed. The assembly comprises first and second spines containing first and second leads with at least one electrode cross rail joining the spines and at least one electrode provi... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7366571 | Neurostimulator with activation based on changes in body temperature Improved methods and devices are provided for detecting and/or predicting the onset of an undesirable physiological event or neural state, such as an epileptic seizure, to facilitate rapid intervention with a treatment therapy such as neurostimulation or drug therap... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7340306 | Treatment of obesity by sub-diaphragmatic nerve stimulation A method and apparatus for treating obese or other patients with compulsive overeating disorder includes unilaterally or bilaterally stimulating one or both of the left and right branches of a patient's vagus nerve directly or indirectly with an electrical pulse sig... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7310557 | Identification of electrodes for nerve stimulation in the treatment of eating disorders A method and apparatus for treatment of an eating disorder includes electrically, mechanically and/or pharmaceutically/chemically stimulating a of the vagus nerve of the lower esophagus, cardia, esophageal/cardia junction, cardia/fundus junction or upper stomach so ... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7299091 | Treatment of obesity by bilateral vagus nerve stimulation A method of treating patients for compulsive overeating includes stimulating left and right branches of the patient's vagus nerve simultaneously with electrical pulses in a predetermined sequence of a first period in which pulses are applied continuously, alternatin... | 11/20/2007 |
| 6723335 | Methods and compositions for treating intervertebral disc degeneration A fluid matrix comprising cross-linked remodelable collagen from a donor vertebrate animal is useful for regenerating hydrodynamic function in damaged intervertebral discs in vivo. The matrix may be injectable and may comprise cells and a plurality of purified cell ... | 04/20/2004 |
| 6638303 | Heart valve prosthesis A heart valve prosthesis includes an annular body that has a fluid passageway and at least one rigid leaflet that is pivotally mounted in the passageway of the body. The leaflet is movable between a closed position wherein the fluid passageway is substant... | 10/28/2003 |
| 6635085 | Heart valve stent with alignment posts A stent includes a stent member having a plurality of post members formed therein. Each post member is connected to an adjacent post member by an interconnecting portion. A plurality of leg members extend from the stent member. The stent may be molded wit... | 10/21/2003 |
| 6627230 | Method of preparing a bone product by removing cancellous bone matrix A method and apparatus for preparing a bone product are provided. The method includes contacting an interior section of a cylindrical bone portion with a high pressure fluid medium such as at least about 1000 psi to remove at least a portion of cancellous... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6613086 | Altering heart valve leaflet attachment geometry to influence the location and magnitude of maximum loaded stress on the leaflet A tri-leaflet prosthetic cardiac valve with leaflets having an analytic shape in a selected position. The leaflets are connected to a valve body at attachment curves. The shape of the leaflet is selected from a set of geometries that can be represented ma... | 09/02/2003 |
| 6596471 | Method of cross-linking tissue with a bis-maleimide compound Herein is disclosed a method of cross-linking a tissue, comprising treating the tissue under effective cross-linking conditions with a diunsaturated organic compound comprising structure I: ##STR1## wherein R, R', and R" are each independently an organic ... | 07/22/2003 |
| 6528107 | Method for producing antimicrobial antithrombogenic medical devices A method is provided for producing antimicrobial, antithrombogenic medical devices. The method employs an antimicrobial treatment process wherein an antimicrobial agent is dissolved in an appropriate solvent and the resulting solution is contacted with a ... | 03/04/2003 |
| 6479079 | Anticalcification treatments for fixed biomaterials A method for treating biomaterial is provided in which a biological tissue, typically after being cross-linked, is contacted with an anticalcification treatment solution under condition effective to render the biomaterial resistant to in vivo calcificatio... | 11/12/2002 |
| 6454798 | Polymer heart valve with helical coaption surface A polymer heart valve has a leaflet with a base geometry of a cylinder for simplicity and effective opening. A helical swept surface is added to the top of the cylinder to enhance stable coaption. The heart valve includes a plurality of flexible leaflets.... | 09/24/2002 |
| 6364905 | Tri-composite, full root, stentless valve A bioprosthetic heart valve is disclosed. In a first aspect of the invention, a prosthetic heart valve comprises three mammalian heart valve leaflets, each valve leaflet including a full root length of tissue, the valve leaflets being affixed to one anoth... | 04/02/2002 |
