Patent ID: 8620428

Claim:
A system for pacing a heart and avoiding unwanted stimulation of a phrenic nerve, comprising: a cardiac pulse generator configured to generate cardiac paces to pace the heart; a nerve traffic inhibitor configured to generate an electrical signal to deliver a waveform to the phrenic nerve that modifies excitability of nerve axons in the phrenic nerve to inhibit nerve traffic in the phrenic nerve; a cardiac activity sensor configured to sense cardiac activity; a controller operably connected to the cardiac pulse generator, the nerve traffic inhibitor, and the cardiac activity sensor, wherein the controller includes a cardiac pacing timer and a nerve traffic inhibition timer, wherein the controller is configured to use sensed cardiac activity and the cardiac pacing timer to determine a desired pace time for a cardiac pace, and wherein the controller is configured to use the desired pace time and the nerve traffic inhibition timer to control the nerve traffic inhibitor to deliver the waveform to the phrenic nerve at a desired inhibition time with respect to the desired pace time to prevent the cardiac pace from stimulating the phrenic nerve.