Patent ID: 7729770
Filing Date: 2010-06-01
Classification: A61N

Abstract:
1. An implantable medical device, comprising: an internal circuit adapted to be electrically coupled to electrical conductors of at least one elongated medical lead implanted in a patient's body; an isolation circuit that includes a plurality of switches, each of the switches adapted to operatively connect the internal circuit to a respective one of the electrical conductors of the medical lead in a first operative state and to electrically isolate the internal circuit from the respective one of the electrical conductors of the medical lead in a second operative state; and a control module for controlling the operative state of the switches of the isolation circuit, wherein the control module places the switches in the second operative state in response to determining a device operating mode of the implantable medical device is a gradient field operating mode and, while operating in the gradient field operating mode, transiently changes a portion of the switches of the isolation circuit from the second operative state to the first operative state to permit temporary conduction to bodily tissue while maintaining the other switches in the second operative state, and returning the portion of the switches to the second operative state to prevent conduction of current induced on the medical lead to the bodily tissue.