Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and apparatus for treating a medical condition of a patient, involving detecting a physiological cycle or cycles of the patient and applying an electrical signal to a portion of the patient's vagus nerve through an electrode at a selected point in the physiological cycle(s). The physiological cycle can be the cardiac and/or respiratory cycle. The selected point can be a point in the cardiac cycle correlated with increased afferent conduction on the vagus nerve, such as a point from about 10 msec to about 800 msec after an R-wave of the patient's ECG, optionally during inspiration by the patient. The selected point can be a point in the cardiac cycle when said applying increases heart rate variability, such as a point from about 10 msec to about 800 msec after an R-wave of the patient's ECG, optionally during expiration by the patient.

A system and method for measuring and monitoring charge states of one or more electrodes of an implanted stimulation lead system associated with an IPG. A Kelvin connection scheme operative with a switching circuit is provided for coupling select electrode terminals disposed in a Kelvin connection measurement loop in a switchable manner to sense and reference inputs of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured as at least part of diagnostic circuitry for the IPG.

Stimulation of neural activity in a nerve supplying the spleen, wherein the nerve is adjacent to the splenic artery at a position where the splenic artery is not in direct contact with the pancreas, can modulate pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules levels, thereby reducing inflammation and providing ways of treating disorders, such as disorders associated with inflammation. The invention provides improved ways of reducing inflammation with minimized off-target effects, in particular surgical trauma.

An assessment system is provided for vagus nerve stimulation therapy treatment for congestive heart failure in a subject. The assessment system includes a first interface configured to communicate with a device that delivers a stimulation signal to a vagus nerve of the subject, a second interface configured to capture heart electrical activity of the subject in response to the stimulation signal, and a processor and a non-transitory computer readable memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the assessment system to determine and display heart rate dynamics and display a digital ECG signal in real-time in response to the stimulation signal.

A method of treating motor deficits in a stroke patient, comprising assessing a patient's motor deficits, determining therapeutic goals for the patient, based on the patient's motor deficits, selecting therapeutic tasks based on the therapeutic goals, performing each of the selected therapeutic tasks repetitively, observing the performance of the therapeutic tasks, initiating the stimulation of the vagus nerve manually at approximately a predetermined moment during the performance of the therapeutic tasks, stimulating the vagus nerve of the patient during the performance of the selected therapeutic tasks, and improving the patient's motor deficits.

The disclosure describes example of subsensory electrical stimulation for providing therapy for incontinence. An implantable medical device (IMD) includes a memory configured to store a set of therapy parameters for subsensory electrical stimulation of a patient. The delivery of the subsensory electrical stimulation results in a therapeutic effect for incontinence therapy at a stimulation intensity that is in range of approximately 50% to 80% of a stimulation intensity at a sensory threshold, and the patient does not perceive delivery of the subsensory electrical stimulation and perceives delivery of stimulation at the sensory threshold. The IMD also includes therapy delivery circuitry configured to deliver the subsensory electrical stimulation based on the stored set of therapy parameters, including cycling the delivery of the subsensory electrical stimulation between an on-cycle and an off-cycle.

The invention relates to a method and a cochlear implant system comprising; a microphone unit configured to receive an acoustical signal and transmit an audio signal based on the acoustical signal, a processor unit configured to receive the audio signal and process the audio signal into a plurality channels that are then used to generate a plurality of electrode pulses, an electrode array including a plurality of electrodes (M) configured to stimulate auditory nerves of a user of the cochlear implant system based on the plurality of electrode pulses, and wherein the processor unit is configured to assign an importance value to one or more electrodes of the plurality of electrodes, wherein each of the importance values is determined based on a status of an electrode pulse assigned to the respective electrode, and wherein the status of the electrode pulse of the plurality of electrode pulses is determined based on a masking model of across-electrode interferences imposed on that electrode pulse by other electrode pulses of the plurality of electrode pulses.

Systems and methods for treating diseases and disorders in a patient are provided. A device comprises a stimulator comprising an electrode and an energy source. The energy source is configured to generate an electrical impulse and transmit the electrical impulse to the electrode through an outer skin surface to a vagus nerve of the patient. The device further comprises a sensor for detecting a physiological parameter of a patient's heart and a controller coupled to the stimulator and the sensor and configured to activate the stimulator based on the physiological parameter to cause the stimulator to generate the electrical impulse. In some aspects, the electrical impulse is sufficient to modulate the vagus nerve to treat a cardiac arrhythmia of the patient.

Systems and methods for stimulation of neurological tissue and generation stimulation trains with temporal patterns of stimulation, in which the interval between electrical pulses (the inter-pulse intervals) changes or varies over time. The features of the stimulation trains may be selected and arranged algorithmically to by clinical trial. These stimulation trains are generated to target a specific neurological disorder, by arranging sets of features which reduce symptoms of that neurological disorder into a pattern which is effective at reducing those symptoms while maintaining or reducing power consumption versus regular stimulation signals. Compared to conventional continuous, high rate pulse trains having regular (i.e., constant) inter-pulse intervals, the non-regular (i.e., not constant) pulse patterns or trains that embody features of the invention provide increased efficacy and/or a lower than average frequency.

Implementations described and claimed herein provide paddle leads for dorsal root ganglia (DRG) stimulation and methods of implanting the same. In one implementation, the paddle lead has a small profile facilitating deployment into a target space in the neuroforamen dorsal to the DRG and below the vertebral lamina. A paddle body of the paddle lead may include a living hinge and/or a contoured profile to further facilitate implantation in the target space. For suture assisted deployment as well as to resist migration of the paddle lead once deployed, the paddle lead may include a suture loop configuration. The paddle lead further includes an electrode array having electrode contacts arranged in a two dimensional configuration pattern to create an electrical field optimized for stimulation of the DRG.