Patent ID: 8364283

Claim:
A lead wire system for use with an active implantable medical device, the lead wire system comprising: a) an implantable lead comprising at least one lead wire having a length extending to and meeting with a proximal lead end and a distal lead end; b) a tank filter as a permanently passive circuit comprising a coiled conductor having parasitic capacitance between adjacent turns of the coiled conductor to provide a self-resonant inductor, wherein the tank filter is electrically connected in series with the lead wire somewhere along the length thereof; c) wherein the inductor has an inductance and an inductor series resistance (R L ) such that at frequencies of about 10 Hz to about 1 kHz an inductor reactance and the inductor series resistance permit passage of biological signals, and the parasitic capacitance has a capacitor series resistance (R C ) such that at the frequencies of about 10 Hz to about 1 kHz a capacitor reactance and the capacitor series resistance substantially act as an open circuit to the same biological signals that the inductor permits to pass; and d) wherein the inductor series resistance and the capacitor series resistance result in the tank filter having a Q wherein the resultant 3 db bandwidth is on the order of megahertz.