Patent ID: 6230061
Filing Date: 2001-05-08
Classification: A61N

Abstract:
An electrode arrangement for stimulating the heart by means of an implantable cardiac pacemaker for generating electrical pulses, comprising:a first electrode adapted for connection to a first output of the cardiac pacemaker and disposed on an intracardially placed electrode line that is not located on a wall of the heart;a second electrode, spaced apart from the first electrode on the electrode line and adapted to connection to a second output of the cardiac pacemaker, for transmitting the electrical stimulating pulses to stimulatable cardiac tissue at a stimulation site; anda third electrode, wherein voltage pulses at the first and second electrodes have a different polarity from the third electrode,and the first and second electrodes are disposed on the electrode line in such a way that the electrical dipole field that develops is distorted in the direction of the stimulation site such that an elevated potential gradient above the stimulation threshold develops there.