Biocompatible ventricular assist and arrhythmia control device

摘要

A device (10) for compressing a ventricle (12) of a heart (102) from one or more sides in synchronism with the natural contraction of the ventricle (systole), and providing arrhythmia control of the heart, is completely implantable in the body (100) of a patient user externally of the heart. Compression of the ventricle (12) is produced by a plurality of spaced compression plate assemblies (118) and a ventricle apex-compression plate (not shown), a single compression plate-band assembly (300, 304) or tightenable bands (300'). The compression plate assemblies (118) comprise suitable located electrodes (144, 152, 154) for heart monitoring purposes. A power supply (32) of the implanted device (10) can be recharged transcutaneously, and various other components (36, 38, 40, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 68) of the device can be noninvasively programmed and interrogated by external circuits (48, 50). The compression plate assemblies (118) may be operated by a small brushless DC motor (24). An implantable manual pump mechanism (44) for operating the compression plate assemblies (118), also is provided for emergency purposes. The components of the implanted device also include a cardiac pacer (36), a defibrillator/cardioverter (38), a recorder (40) and an alarm (42).