Patent ID: 7850645

Claim:
An internal medical device comprising: (a) electrodes that are adapted to be positioned in a lumen of the cardiovascular system that is created by surrounding tissue upon implantation or insertion of said medical device in a subject, said electrodes further being adapted to have said surrounding tissue positioned between them upon deployment of said medical device within said lumen, (b) a power source adapted to apply a voltage across said electrodes, thereby generating an electric field having a vector that is directed into said surrounding tissue, and (c) a therapeutic agent source adapted to introduce a therapeutic agent into said electric field, wherein said device comprises an expandable tubular medical device substrate, wherein said therapeutic agent source comprises a charged therapeutic agent dispersed within an ion-conductive polymeric coating region disposed over said substrate, and wherein said electrodes comprise a first electrode provided beneath and in electrical contact with the polymeric coating region and a tissue penetrating electrode which penetrates said surrounding tissue upon deployment of said device by expansion of said substrate.