Patent Description:
Implantable medical devices, such as cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices, can be used to monitor, detect, or treat various cardiac conditions that can result in a reduced ability of a heart to sufficiently deliver blood to a body. In some cases, heart conditions may lead to rapid, irregular, or inefficient heart contractions, etc. To alleviate one or more of these conditions, various medical devices can be implanted in a patient's body to monitor heart activity or to provide electrical stimulation to optimize or control contractions of the heart.

Traditional cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices, such as pacemakers or defibrillators, include subcutaneous devices implanted in a chest of a patient, having one or more leads to position one or more electrodes or other sensors at various locations in the heart, such as in one or more of the atria or ventricles. In certain examples, the one or more leads can include a pressure sensor positioned in the heart and coupled to the CRM device through a conductor in the lead. Separate from, or in addition to, the one or more electrodes or other sensors of the leads, the CRM device can include one or more electrodes or other sensors (e.g., a pressure sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a microphone, etc.) powered by a power source in the CRM device. The one or more electrodes or other sensors of the leads, the CRM device, or a combination thereof, can be configured detect physiologic information from, or provide one or more therapies or stimulation to, the patient.

For example, the CRM device or the one or more leads can include an acoustic sensor, such as an accelerometer, a microphone, or one or more other acoustic sensors configured to detect body sounds from a patient, such as cardiac murmurs, respiratory sounds, heart sounds, mitral regurgitation, mitral stenosis, or other body sounds. The body sounds, or other physiologic information, can be used to diagnose one or more physiologic conditions, provide an alert, or to control one or more therapies.

However, implantable CRM devices typically require an incision in the chest to implant the device in a pocket under the skin, which, in certain examples, can become infected, reduce mobility near the implant site, migrate, or leave a scar or lump where the device is implanted. Further, leads positioned in the heart may cause complications, becoming dislodged, breaking, migrating, or even perforating the heart.

Leadless cardiac pacemakers (LCP) have developed that can detect physiologic information from or provide one or more therapies or stimulation to the heart without traditional lead or implantable CRM device complications. Such LCP devices are typically small, self-contained devices (e.g., smaller than traditional implantable CRM devices), and in certain examples, having more limited power and processing capabilities than a traditional CRM device.

In certain examples, multiple LCP devices can be implanted in the heart to detect physiologic information from, or provide one or more therapies or stimulation to, one or more chambers of the heart. The multiple LCP devices can communicate between themselves, or one or more other implanted or external devices.

<CIT> relates to systems and methods for reducing power consumption in implantable medical devices for monitoring blood pressure. <CIT> teaches an apparatus for assessing the cardiovascular status of a patient, the apparatus comprising a system for locally applying a pressure to an artery, a wideband external pulse transducer, and a computing device. <CIT> relates to a medical device system and associated method for discriminating respiratory and cardiac conditions using respiratory sounds.

This document discusses, among other things, using a pressure sensor to detect body sound information of a patient such as, for example, cardiac murmurs, respiratory sounds, mitral regurgitation, mitral stenosis, etc..

This summary is intended to provide an overview of subject matter of the present patent application. It is not intended to provide an exclusive or exhaustive explanation of the disclosure. Other aspects of the disclosure will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description and viewing the drawings that form a part thereof, each of which are not to be taken in a limiting sense.

The present inventors have recognized, among other things, that a pressure sensor, in addition to detecting a pressure signal, can be used to detect body sounds of a patient from within an atrium or a ventricle of the heart. Detection of such body sounds using the pressure sensor, as described below, can be used to improve operation or programming of a medical device including or coupled to such pressure sensor.

The pressure sensor can include a pressure transducer or one or more other pressure sensors, such as a pressure sensor in a leadless cardiac pacemaker (LCP), a pressure sensor on an implantable lead, or a pressure sensor in one or more other implantable or insertable medical devices, configured to be positioned in one or more of an atria or a ventricle of a heart, such as a left ventricle (LV), or on or near the heart, such as in a pulmonary artery, to detect a pressure signal. In an example, the pressure transducer can include a deformable element proximate a rigid element. Each of the deformable and rigid elements can include a conductive surface, such that movement of the deformable surface can be sensed in relation to the rigid element, for example, using a change in capacitance. In other examples, the pressure sensor can include a deformable material, which, when deformed, such as by a change in pressure, can alter a property (e.g., a resistance, an inductance, a capacitance, etc.) of the deformable material. In other examples, one or more other pressure sensors can be used.

In contrast to cardiac pressures, body sounds typically have much higher signal frequencies and lower energy values than cardiac pressure signals. In an example, a pressure sensor in the left ventricle of a leadless pacemaker system can detect low-frequency measurements (e.g., <NUM>-<NUM>) indicative of changes in the pressure of the left ventricle, whereas body sounds can include cardiac murmurs (e.g., <NUM>-<NUM>) or respiratory sounds (e.g., <NUM>-<NUM>), including wheezes, rhonchi, crackles, etc. In certain examples, certain respiratory sounds can have useful information at a range of frequencies lower than <NUM>-<NUM> (e.g., down to <NUM>, etc.). In other examples, body sounds can include heart sounds having information at a range of frequencies (e.g., <NUM>-<NUM>) at least partially overlapping with the low-frequency measurements. In such examples, however, it can be beneficial to focus on the higher frequencies, or to detect the overlapping frequencies during specific portions of the low-frequency measurements (e.g., pressure at <NUM>-<NUM>, etc.) to optimize detection of heart sounds with the pressure sensor.

Typically, lower frequency, higher amplitude physiologic information is cheaper and easier to detect (e.g., low sampling rate, resolution, complexity, etc.) than higher frequency, lower amplitude physiologic information. With lower frequency information, less sampling is required, and with higher signal amplitude or variation, less resolution is required to detect changes. Further, in certain examples, a system including the pressure sensor, such as an LCP device or one or more other implantable or insertable medical devices, can include different acoustic sensors (e.g., accelerometers, a microphones, etc.) capable of detecting body sounds with higher accuracy than the pressure sensor. However, additional sensors require additional cost, complexity, power usage, or size in a small-form LCP or other implantable or insertable medical device. Accordingly, even though additional acoustic sensors may better detect body sounds, it can be advantageous to use existing, low-cost, multi-use sensors, such as the pressure sensor, to detect other physiologic information from the patient without substantially increasing the size, cost, or power usage of the device.

For example, the device can require more processing power to detect body sounds in noisy environment, or in the presence of other signals, in contrast to a more quiet environment. Accordingly, the present inventors have recognized, among other things, that the pressure sensor, one or more electrodes, or one or more secondary sensors can detect physiologic conditions under which the pressure sensor can better detect body sounds (e.g., in the presence of less noise, in conditions optimized to detect certain physiologic information, etc.). For example, the pressure in the left ventricle is low during diastole. Accordingly, to enhance detection of body sounds, such as respiratory sounds, the pressure sensor can be gated using information about the heart cycle, for example, that the heart is in diastole. Similarly, in other examples, to enhance detection of other body sounds, such as mitral stenosis, mitral regurgitation, or one or more other sounds associated with the opening or closing of respective heart valves (depending on the placement of the LCP or other implantable or insertable medical device), the pressure sensor can be gated using information that the heart is in systole. In this way, the.

Other physiologic information can be used to gate the pressure sensor, depending on desired body sounds, such as pressure (e.g., when the information from the pressure sensor indicates that the pressure is below a threshold), respiration phase (e.g., body sounds can be detected using the pressure sensor during at least a portion of at least one of inspiration or expiration), patient posture (e.g., body sounds can be detected using the pressure sensor while the patient is lying in a specific position, arm overhead, etc.), activity (e.g., body sounds can be detected during or after a period of activity, etc.), heart rate (e.g., body sounds can be detected when the heart rate increases or decreases, etc.), respiration rate, etc..

In certain examples, the pressure sensor can be used as a respiration sensor, configured to detect respiration rate, tidal volume, and phase. For example, respiration variation can be detected using the pressure sensor to determine the respiratory rate and tidal volume for patient management, rate-responsive therapies, etc..

In other examples, the device can include different signal pathways for detecting different physiologic information. For example, the device (e.g., an LCP device, etc.) can include a low-frequency, low-gain detection path for detecting pressure in an atrium or a ventricle, and a higher-frequency, higher-gain detection path for certain other measurements (e.g., body sounds, respiratory sounds, etc.). To save power, the device can switch to the higher-gain detection path only as necessary and under certain conditions (e.g., detected using the low-gain detection path, or one or more electrodes or other sensors, etc.).

<FIG> illustrates generally an example system <NUM> including first and second leadless cardiac pacemakers (LCP) devices <NUM>, <NUM> positioned in left and right ventricles <NUM>, <NUM> of a heart <NUM>, respectively. In an example, the first and second LCP devices101, <NUM> can communicate between each other using respective telemetry circuits, to one or more other LCP devices, to an implantable medical device (IMD) <NUM> (e.g., a subcutaneous cardiac rhythm management (CRM) device, a dedicated communication circuit, etc.), or directly to an external device, such as an external programmer <NUM>, etc..

In other examples, the system <NUM> can include a single LCP device, two or more LCP devices, or one or two or more other implantable or insertable medical devices for placement in or on any chamber of the heart, including one or more of a left atrium <NUM>, a right atrium <NUM>, the left ventricle <NUM>, or the right ventricle <NUM>, delivered through the circulatory system of the heart <NUM> to a location of interest, implanted through the epicardium <NUM> or endocardium <NUM> and into the myocardium <NUM>, or located near any chamber of the heart, such as in a pulmonary artery or other portion of the circulatory system of the heart <NUM>.

In an example, the IMD <NUM> can include a leadless implanted device configured to communicate with one or more of the LCP devices <NUM>, <NUM>, or the IMD <NUM> can include one or more leads configured to be placed at various locations in the heart, working together with the one or more LCP devices. For example, the IMD <NUM> can include one or more sensors configured to provide information to one or more of the LCP devices <NUM>, <NUM>. In other examples, one or more of the LCP devices <NUM>, <NUM> can be configured to supplement sensing in the IMD <NUM>. For example, the IMD <NUM> can include a CRM device having an accelerometer. In certain examples, one or more of the pressure sensors of the LCP devices <NUM>, <NUM> can be configured to supplement (e.g., acting as a hydrophone, or a sound pressure sensor) the detected accelerometer signal from the CRM device, such as to enhance detection of one or more physiologic signals, such as heart sounds, or one or more body sounds of the patient.

<FIG> illustrates generally an example leadless cardiac pacemaker (LCP) device <NUM> including a control circuit <NUM>, first and second electrodes <NUM>, <NUM>, and a pressure senor <NUM>. In certain examples, the LCP device <NUM> can include more than two electrodes. The first and second electrodes <NUM>, <NUM> can be configured to receive electrical information from, or provide a therapy or stimulation to, a heart of a patient. In certain examples, the first and second electrodes <NUM>, <NUM> can be coupled to the control circuit <NUM>, to a secondary sensor <NUM>, to the therapy circuit <NUM>, or to one or more other components of the LCP device <NUM>.

The pressure sensor <NUM> is configured to sense physiologic information from the patient, such as pressure or body sound information (e.g., including murmurs, valve openings or closures, respiratory sounds, etc.). The pressure sensor <NUM> is coupled to the control circuit <NUM>, and can receive control signals to operate one or more aspects of the pressure sensor <NUM>, such as sampling frequency, signal resolution, etc. The control circuit <NUM> is configured to receive information from the pressure sensor <NUM>, and optionally from the secondary sensor <NUM>, the first and second electrodes <NUM>, <NUM>, the telemetry circuit <NUM> (e.g., information from a coupled IMD or external programmer, etc.), internal memory (not shown). The control circuit <NUM> is configured to control the pressure sensor <NUM>, and optionally the secondary sensor <NUM>, the telemetry circuit <NUM>, the therapy circuit <NUM>, or one or more other component of the LCP device <NUM>.

Depending on the control signals received from the control circuit <NUM>, the pressure sensor <NUM> alters one or more sensing property to efficiently detect specific physiologic signals or features. For example, as described above, the pressure sensor <NUM> is configured to detect a pressure signal from the patient in a first mode (e.g., low-frequency mode), and is configured to detect body sounds from the patient in a second mode (e.g., high-frequency mode). In an example, in the second mode, one or more of the power for sensing, the sampling frequency, signal resolution, amount of processing for filtering, etc., for the pressure sensor <NUM> can be increased. In the first mode, sensing can be configured for device longevity. Although described here as first and second modes, it is understood that a number of intermediate modes can be used to balance accurate detection of physiologic signals with power consumption, etc..

The telemetry circuit <NUM> can be configured to communicate information from the LCP device <NUM> to one or more other LCP devices, a subcutaneous IMD, an external programmer, or one or more other devices, or to receive information therefrom. In certain examples, the telemetry circuit <NUM> can be configured to receive information from one or more other implanted device, such as to provide the control signal to the pressure sensor. For example, an implantable CRM device can monitor one or more physiologic conditions, provide information to the LCP device <NUM> as to when the pressure sensor <NUM> should switch from the first state (e.g., low-frequency mode) to the second state (e.g., high-frequency mode), or to one or more intermediate states. Once the LCP device <NUM> has detected body sound information from its location, it can send that information to one or more other implanted devices, or external to the body, as desired.

Further, the LCP device <NUM> includes a battery <NUM> configured to power the circuits, sensors, and operations of the LCP device <NUM>. In certain examples, the battery life of LCP devices <NUM> can rival that of current subcutaneous IMDs.

Although illustrated in <FIG> as an LCP device, in other examples, the LCP device <NUM> can include one or more other implantable or insertable medical devices.

<FIG> illustrates generally an example method <NUM> for detecting pressure and body sound information from a patient using a pressure sensor, such as a pressure sensor of a leadless cardiac pacemaker (LCP) or other implantable or insertable medical device.

At <NUM>, a control signal is provided to a pressure sensor of an LCP or other implantable or insertable medical device. A control circuit provides the control signal using, in certain examples, information from the pressure sensor, one or more electrodes, or a secondary sensor of the LCP or other implantable or insertable medical device. In other examples, the LCP or other implantable or insertable medical device can be configured to receive information from another device using a telemetry circuit, and can provide the control signal using received information.

At <NUM>, physiologic information is received from a patient using the pressure sensor. The pressure sensor can is configured to operate in one of a plurality of modes, including the first mode and the second mode described above, depending on the control signal from the control circuit.

At <NUM>, pressure information from the patient is detected using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the pressure sensor (<NUM>) is in the first mode (when the control signal is in a first state), such as by using a low-frequency data processing circuit in the control circuit. In an example, the low-frequency data processing circuit can include a normal operation of the LCP or other implantable or insertable medical device, configured for longevity of the battery of the device, etc..

At <NUM>, body sound information is detected from the patient using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the pressure sensor is in the second mode (when the control signal is in a second state), such as by using a high-frequency data processing circuit in the control circuit. In an example, the control circuit can be configured to provide the control signal to the pressure sensor in response to an expected detection window or period in which the data could be useful (e.g., detecting respiratory sounds during diastole to take advantage of lower noise levels, etc.).

<FIG> illustrates generally a block diagram of an example machine <NUM> upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may perform. Portions of this description may be applicable to the computing framework of various portions of the LCP or other implantable or insertable medical device, or the external programmer.

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate by, logic or a number of components, or mechanisms. Circuit sets are a collection of circuits implemented in tangible entities that include hardware (e.g., simple circuits, gates, logic, etc.). Circuit set membership may be flexible over time and underlying hardware variability. Circuit sets include members that may, alone or in combination, perform specified operations when operating. In an example, hardware of the circuit set may be immutably designed to carry out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired). In an example, the hardware of the circuit set may include variably connected physical components (e.g., execution units, transistors, simple circuits, etc.) including a computer readable medium physically modified (e.g., magnetically, electrically, moveable placement of invariant massed particles, etc.) to encode instructions of the specific operation. In connecting the physical components, the underlying electrical properties of a hardware constituent are changed, for example, from an insulator to a conductor or vice versa. The instructions enable embedded hardware (e.g., the execution units or a loading mechanism) to create members of the circuit set in hardware via the variable connections to carry out portions of the specific operation when in operation. Accordingly, the computer readable medium is communicatively coupled to the other components of the circuit set member when the device is operating. In an example, any of the physical components may be used in more than one member of more than one circuit set. For example, under operation, execution units may be used in a first circuit of a first circuit set at one point in time and reused by a second circuit in the first circuit set, or by a third circuit in a second circuit set at a different time.

The machine <NUM> may further include a display unit <NUM> (e.g., a raster display, vector display, holographic display, etc.), an alphanumeric input device <NUM> (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device <NUM> (e.g., a mouse). The machine <NUM> may include an output controller <NUM>, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

The term "machine readable medium" may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine <NUM> and that cause the machine <NUM> to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Nonlimiting machine readable medium examples may include solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. In an example, a massed machine readable medium comprises a machine readable medium with a plurality of particles having invariant (e.g., rest) mass. Accordingly, massed machine-readable media are not transitory propagating signals. Specific examples of massed machine readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions <NUM> may further be transmitted or received over a communications network <NUM> using a transmission medium via the network interface device <NUM> utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) <NUM> family of standards known as WiFi®, IEEE <NUM> family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE <NUM>. <NUM> family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device <NUM> may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network <NUM>. In an example, the network interface device <NUM> may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term "transmission medium" shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine <NUM>, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

An example (e.g., "Example <NUM>") of subject matter (e.g., a system) may include a pressure sensor configured to receive physiologic information from a patient and a control circuit, coupled to the pressure sensor, configured to receive information from the pressure sensor, and to provide a control signal to the pressure sensor, wherein the control circuit includes a low-frequency data processing circuit configured to detect pressure information from the patient using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the control signal is in a first state and a high-frequency data processing circuit configured to detect body sound information from the patient using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the control signal is in a second state.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of Example <NUM> may optionally include a leadless cardiac pacemaker (LCP), the LCP optionally including the pressure sensor, the pressure sensor optionally including a deformable element, the LCP optionally including an anchor to secure the LCP in an atrium or a ventricle of a heart of the patient and first and second electrodes configured to detect electrical information of the heart.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that the control circuit is configured to provide the control signal in response to the detected electrical information.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that the control circuit is configured to provide the control signal in response to the received physiologic information from the pressure sensor.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that the control circuit is configured to detect diastole in the patient using information from the pressure sensor, and the control circuit is configured to provide the control signal in the second state when diastole is detected.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that the LCP includes a secondary physiologic sensor configured to receive secondary physiologic information from the patient, and the control circuit is configured to provide the control signal in response to the secondary physiologic information detected from the secondary physiologic sensor.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that the secondary sensor includes a respiration sensor configured to detect a respiration phase of the patient, and the control circuit is configured to provide the control signal in response to the detected respiration phase.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that the pressure sensor is configured to sample physiologic information from the patient using the pressure sensor at a first sampling rate when the control signal is in the first state, and to sample physiologic information from the patient using the pressure sensor at a second sampling rate higher than the first sampling rate when the control signal is in the second state.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that the body sound information includes information about at least one of a cardiac murmur, a respiratory sound, mitral regurgitation, or mitral stenosis detected using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the control signal is in the second state.

An example (e.g., "Example <NUM>") of subject matter (e.g., a method) may include providing a control signal to a pressure sensor of a leadless cardiac pacemaker (LCP) using a control circuit, receiving physiologic information from a patient using the pressure sensor, detecting pressure information from the patient using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the control signal is in a first state using a low-frequency data processing circuit, and detecting body sound information from the patient using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the control signal is in a second state using a high-frequency data processing circuit.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of Example <NUM> may optionally include detecting electrical information of the patient using first and second electrodes, wherein the pressure sensor includes a deformable element, receiving physiologic information from the patient includes receiving physiologic information from within a left ventricle of a heart of the patient, and providing the control signal includes in response to the detected electrical information or in response to the received physiologic information from the pressure sensor.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally include detecting diastole in the patient using information from the pressure sensor, wherein providing the control signal includes in the second state when diastole is detected.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally include receiving secondary physiologic information from the patient using a secondary physiologic sensor, wherein providing the control signal includes in response to the secondary physiologic information detected from the secondary physiologic sensor.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that receiving secondary physiologic information includes receiving a respiratory phase of the patient from a respiration sensor, and providing the control signal includes in response to the detected respiration phase.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally include sampling physiologic information from the patient using the pressure sensor at a first sample rate when the control signal is in the first state, and sampling physiologic information from the patient using the pressure sensor at a second sampling rate higher than the first sampling rate when the control signal is in the second state, wherein detecting body sound information includes detecting information about at least one of a cardiac murmur, a respiratory sound, mitral regurgitation, or mitral stenosis detected using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the control signal is in the second state.

An example (e.g., "Example <NUM>") of subject matter (e.g., a system) may include a leadless cardiac pacemaker (LCP), including a pressure sensor configured to receive physiologic information from a patient, and a control circuit, coupled to the pressure sensor, configured to receive information from the pressure sensor, and to provide a control signal to the pressure sensor, wherein the control circuit includes a low-frequency data processing circuit configured to detect pressure information from the patient using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the control signal is in a first state, and a high-frequency data processing circuit configured to detect body sound information from the patient using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the control signal is in a second state.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of Example <NUM> may optionally be configured such that the pressure sensor includes a deformable element, and the LCP includes an anchor to secure the LCP in an atrium or a ventricle of a heart of the patient, and first and second electrodes configured to detect electrical information of the heart.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that the LCP includes an anchor configured to secure the LCP to an interior wall of a left ventricle of a heart, and first and second electrodes configured to detect electrical information of the heart.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that the control circuit is configured to provide the control signal in the second state when the information from the pressure sensor drops below a threshold.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of Example <NUM> may optionally include detecting electrical information of the patient using first and second electrodes, wherein the pressure sensor includes a deformable element, and receiving physiologic information from the patient includes receiving physiologic information from within a left ventricle of a heart of the patient.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that providing the control signal includes in response to the detected electrical information.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that providing the control signal includes in response to the received physiologic information from the pressure sensor.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally include detecting diastole in the patient using information from the pressure sensor, wherein providing the control signal includes providing the control signal in the second state when diastole is detected.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally include receiving a respiratory phase of the patient from a respiration sensor, wherein providing the control signal includes in response to the detected respiration phase.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally include sampling physiologic information from the patient using the pressure sensor at a first sample rate when the control signal is in the first state, and sampling physiologic information from the patient using the pressure sensor at a second sampling rate higher than the first sampling rate when the control signal is in the second state.

In Example <NUM>, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> may optionally be configured such that detecting body sound information includes detecting information about at least one of a cardiac murmur, a respiratory sound, mitral regurgitation, or mitral stenosis detected using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor when the control signal is in the second state.

An example (e.g., "Example <NUM>") of subject matter (e.g., a system or apparatus) may optionally combine any portion or combination of any portion of any one or more of Examples <NUM>-<NUM> to include "means for" performing any portion of any one or more of the functions or methods of Examples <NUM>-<NUM>, or a "machine-readable medium" (e.g., massed, non-transitory, etc.) including instructions that, when performed by a machine, cause the machine to perform any portion of any one or more of the functions or methods of Examples <NUM>-<NUM>.

The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the disclosure can be practiced.

All publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in this document are provided for illustrative purposes. In the event of inconsistent usages between this document and those documents so incorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s) should be considered supplementary to that of this document; for irreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

In the appended claims, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and "wherein. " Also, in the following claims, the terms "including" and "comprising" are open-ended, that is, a system, device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim.

Further, the code can be tangibly stored on one or more volatile or non-volatile tangible computer-readable media, such as during execution or at other times.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or more aspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Other embodiments can be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The Abstract is provided to comply with <NUM> C. §<NUM>(b), to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure.

Claim 1:
A system (<NUM>), comprising:
a pressure sensor (<NUM>) configured to receive physiologic information from a patient; and
a control circuit (<NUM>), coupled to the pressure sensor (<NUM>), configured to receive information from the pressure sensor (<NUM>), and to provide a control signal to the pressure sensor (<NUM>), wherein the pressure sensor (<NUM>) is configured to alter one or more sensing properties depending on the control signal to operate in a first mode to detect a pressure signal from the patient or to operate in a second mode to detect body sounds from the patient, wherein the control circuit (<NUM>) includes:
a low-frequency data processing circuit configured to detect pressure information from the patient using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor (<NUM>) when the pressure sensor (<NUM>) is in the first mode; and
a high-frequency data processing circuit configured to detect body sound information from the patient using the physiologic information received by the pressure sensor (<NUM>) when the pressure sensor (<NUM>) is in the second mode.