System and Method for Heart and Activity Monitoring

Abstract

A system and method determining physiological status of a patient. A determination is made whether the patient is sleeping. The amplitude and change in voltage over time of any intramyocardial electrogram is measured for a right ventricle and a left ventricle of a heart of the patient for a predefined number of heartbeats at a specified time interval in response to determining the patient is asleep. The measurements are averaged for the right ventricle and left ventricle. The averaged measurements are transmitted to a receiver for communication to an intended recipient.

1 .- 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . A method for determining activity levels of a patient, said method comprising:
 determining an activity level based on activity of the patient, the activity is measured by one or more piezo accelerometers in a surgically implanted monitor;   measuring and storing data regarding awake time, activity amplitude, activity duration and temperature; and   transmitting the data to a receiver.   
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 16 , further comprising:
 dynamically adjusting a plurality of activity thresholds that establish a plurality of activity levels.   
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the measuring and storing data is performed for each of the plurality of activity levels. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 16 , further comprising:
 calculating a physiological status value by adding values of the data for indirectly determining health of the patient.   
     
     
         20 . A heart monitor, comprising:
 one or more electrodes for sensing electrical signals from a heart at different locations in the heart, the one or more electrodes including piezoelectric accelerometers for measuring motion of the different locations;   one or more amplifiers operatively connected to the one or more electrodes configured to filter the electrical signals received from the one or more electrodes;   a monitor piezoelectric accelerometer for measuring activity levels of a patient;   a processor operatively connected to the amplifiers configured to control the electrical signals sensed by the one or more electrodes;   a storage operatively connected to the processor configured to store data associated with the electrical signals and activity levels; and   telemetry circuitry operatively connected to the processor configured to wirelessly send the data to a receiver.   
     
     
         21 . The heart monitor according to  claim 20 , wherein the electrical signals are atrial unipolar intracardiac depolarization signals (P waves) and unipolar ventricular intracardiac depolarization signals (R waves). 
     
     
         22 . The heart monitor according to  claim 20 , wherein the piezoelectric accelerometers for electromechanical measuring the performance of the heart. 
     
     
         23 . The heart monitor according to  claim 20 , wherein the heart monitor is surgically implanted, wherein the one or more electrodes are intramyocardial electrodes. 
     
     
         24 . The heart monitor according to  claim 20 , wherein the electrical signals are a heartbeat waveform and include a change in voltage per time (dV/dt) and an amplitude. 
     
     
         25 . The heart monitor according to  claim 20 , wherein the piezoelectric accelerometers measure the activation time and contract time of ventricles of the heart. 
     
     
         26 . The heart monitor according to  claim 20 , further comprising:
 a magnetic reed switch configured to allow the patient to manually activate the telemetry circuitry for immediately transmitting the data to the receiver.   
     
     
         27 . The heart monitor according to  claim 20 , further comprising:
 a thermistor for recording body temperature.   
     
     
         28 . The heart monitor according to  claim 20 , wherein the telemetry circuitry includes general packet radio service (GPRS) for transmitting data to a web server wherein the web server is available to users authorized to view the data of the patient. 
     
     
         29 . The heart monitor according to  claim 22 , wherein the storage includes a library for determining whether heart data and lung data acoustically recorded by the piezoelectric accelerometers and monitor piezoelectric accelerometers indicates that a heart event is occurring. 
     
     
         30 . The heart monitor according to  claim 20 , wherein the heart monitor is any of an implantable rejection assessment monitor, external transient event recorder, internal transient event recorder, implantable heart monitor, and pacemaker.