Patent ID: 7766840
Filing Date: 2010-08-03
Classification: A61B,A61N

Abstract:
1. A method for operating a medical device to provide a patient assessment, the method comprising: sensing patient respiration and generating a respiration signal; detecting disordered breathing episodes based on the respiration signal; determining a disordered breathing index based on the detected disordered breathing episodes; trending the disordered breathing index over a period of time; and evaluating a status of heart failure based on the disordered breathing index trend, wherein at least one of detecting, determining, trending, and evaluating is performed at least in part implantably using the medical device; wherein detecting the disordered breathing episodes based on the respiration signal comprises discriminating obstructive disordered breathing episodes from central disordered breathing episodes; wherein determining the disordered breathing index comprises determining the disordered breathing index based on at least one of the obstructive disordered breathing episodes and the central disordered breathing episodes; and wherein discriminating the obstructive disordered breathing episodes from the central disordered breathing episodes comprises discriminating based on a respiratory rate during hyperventilation portions of the respiration signal during periodic breathing episodes.