A method of treating a patient and on external programmer for use with a neurostimulator. Electrical stimulation energy is conveyed into tissue of the patient via a specified combination of a plurality of electrodes, thereby creating one or more clinical effects. An influence of the specified electrode combination on the clinical effect(s) is determined. An anatomical region of interest is displayed in registration with a graphical representation of the plurality of electrodes. The displayed anatomical region of interest is modified based on the determined influence of the specified electrode combination on the clinical effect(s).

A method of selecting a combination of electrodes for use in neurostimulation includes testing combinations of electrodes in an electrode array to identify an atrial capture. The atrial capture is indicated by at least one effect on an atrium. The method includes excluding electrodes with the atrial capture to result in remaining electrodes of the electrode array, testing combinations of the remaining electrodes of the electrode array for effect on cardiac contractility and/or relaxation, and selecting a combination of electrodes from the remaining electrodes. The selected combination has both a desired effect on cardiac contractility and/or relaxation and does not have an undesired side effect.

Electrical stimulation of neural activity in the neural innervation of the spleen provides a useful way to treat acute medical conditions. The disclosed systems and methods stimulate the neural activity of a nerve supplying a spleen, wherein the nerve is associated with a neurovascular bundle, such that the electrical signal produces an improvement in a physiological parameter indicative of treatment of an acute medical condition.

Electrical stimulation of neural activity in the neural innervation of the spleen that is associated with neurovascular bundles provides a useful way to treat acute medical conditions, such as trauma, hemorrhaging and shock.

A stimulation therapy system dynamically modifies therapy intensity based on measured neurotransmitter levels. In some examples, the system delivers, via an electrode implanted in a brain of a patient and stimulation circuitry, an electrical stimulus; monitors an electrical current generated by the stimulation circuitry to deliver the electrical stimulus; determines, based on the electrical current, a value representative of a concentration of dopamine in the brain of the patient; determines, based on the value representative of the concentration of dopamine, a value for one or more stimulation parameters that at least partially define electrical stimulation therapy; and delivers, via the electrode, the electrical stimulation therapy.

A first fraction of an electrical stimulation is allocated to a first electrode. In response to user input, the first fraction of the electrical stimulation is fixed to the first electrode such that the first fraction is user-adjustable but cannot be automatically changed. In response to the first fraction being fixed to the first electrode, a respective second fraction of the electrical stimulation is automatically allocated to a plurality of second electrodes. The second fraction is a function of the first fraction and a total number of the second electrodes. Thereafter, a new electrode is added to, or deleting from, the second electrodes, while the first fraction is still fixed to the first electrode. The respective second fractions are automatically adjusted in response to the adding or the deleting, without affecting the first fraction of the electrical stimulation that has been fixed to the first electrode.

A hearing device for use with a cochlear implant system is disclosed. An input portion receives, as a stimulus, an acoustic signal, converts the acoustic signal into an electrical acoustic signal and provides the electrical acoustic signal. A processing portion processes the electrical acoustic signal and conducts an active grounding procedure. An implant portion being implantable at least partially in a cochlea of the user comprises a plurality of operation electrodes and a reference electrode, e.g. an external electrode being grounded and implantable outside of the cochlea of the user. The operation electrodes are driven by the processing portion on the basis of the electric acoustic signal. An electrode state setting section sets the plurality of operation electrodes into one of a high impedance state, a grounded state and a stimulating state in which a signal based on the electric acoustic signal is supplied to a stimulation electrode of the plurality of operation electrodes. An electrode state setting pattern determining section selects, according to an operation mode of the cochlear implant system, one of a plurality of electrode state setting patterns, wherein each of the electrode state setting patterns is adapted to enable a stimulation by a stimulation electrode of the plurality of operation electrodes being in a stimulating state and at least one of the plurality of operation electrodes being in a grounded state or in a high impedance state. The electrode state setting section sets the plurality of operation electrodes into the specified electrode state according to the selected electrode state setting pattern.

An external control device, neuromodulation system, and method of providing therapy to a patient using an implantable neuromodulator implanted within the patient. Electrical modulation energy is delivered from the neuromodulator to the patient in accordance with the pre-existing modulation program when in one of the super-threshold delivery mode and the sub-threshold delivery mode. Operation of the neuromodulator is switched to the other of the super-threshold delivery mode and the sub-threshold delivery mode. A new modulation program may be derived from a pre-existing modulation program, and the neuromodulator may deliver the electrical modulation energy to the patient in accordance with the pre-existing modulation program during the other of the super-threshold delivery mode and the sub-threshold delivery mode.

This disclosure describes, among other embodiments, systems and related methods for selecting electrode combinations to be used during nerve pacing procedures. A first set of electrode combinations of a nerve pacing system, such as a phrenic nerve pacing system for diaphragm activation, may be mapped (or tested) to determine the location of the electrode combinations relative to a target nerve. Once the general location of the target nerve is known, a more localized second set of electrode combinations may be tested to determine the most suitable electrode combinations for nerve stimulation. At various stages of the mapping process, electrode combinations that are non-optimal may be discarded as candidates for use in a nerve pacing procedure. The systems and methods described herein may allow for the selection of electrode combinations that are most suitable for stimulation of the left and right phrenic nerves during diaphragm pacing.

Disclosed are methods and systems for treating epilepsy by stimulating a main trunk of a vagus nerve, or a left vagus nerve, when the patient has had no seizure or a seizure that is not characterized by cardiac changes such as an increase in heart rate, and stimulating a cardiac branch of a vagus nerve, or a right vagus nerve, when the patient has had a seizure characterized by cardiac changes such as a heart rate increase.