Patent ID: 9713727
Date: 2017-07-25
CPC Classifications: A61N

Claim:
1. An electrotherapy apparatus adapted for applying therapy for treating a patient experiencing an arrhythmia, the apparatus comprising: a power source adapted to supply energy for operation of the apparatus; electrotherapy administration circuitry electrically coupled to the power source and to a set of patient terminals, and constructed to generate electrotherapy pulses using the energy from the power source and apply a series of the electrotherapy pulses via the patient terminals in response to a control signal, the electrotherapy pulses comprising defibrillation pulses having energy and waveform characteristics sufficient to shock the heart of the patient into a reset state, and medium voltage therapy (MVT) pulses having an insufficient energy level to shock the heart into a reset state, but having an energy level and waveform characteristics that cause targeted musculature in the patient to be electrically activated into a contracted state, electrically maintained in the contracted state for a compression duration, and thereafter allowed to relax, thereby achieving a forced compression and release of that targeted musculature; monitoring circuitry electrically coupled with the power source and the set of patient terminals, and constructed to monitor the patient for indicia of the arrhythmia; controller circuitry electrically coupled with the power source, the electrotherapy administration circuitry, and the monitoring circuitry, the controller circuitry including a processor and a data storage device containing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the controller circuitry to read an output of the monitoring circuitry and determine any presence of the arrhythmia based on that output, and to generate the control signal causing the electrotherapy administration circuitry to apply the series of electrotherapy pulses; wherein the electrotherapy administration circuitry includes a therapy selection circuit constructed to cause the electrotherapy administration circuitry to deliver the defibrillation pulses to a first electrotherapy vector that includes at least one electrode in the right ventricle of the patient's heart and the MVT pulses to a second electrotherapy vector that omits electrodes in the right ventricle.