The invention relates to glycemic control in diabetic patients, and more particularly, to the use of an implantable medical device for monitoring glycemic control.
Diabetes is a relatively common affliction in which a person's body does not produce or properly use the hormone called insulin that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy. By some estimates, about seven percent of the population of the United States has diabetes. The symptoms of diabetes are often not recognized, and it is estimated that about one-third of people with the disease do not realize they have it.
Compared to the general population, diabetes is estimated to be even more common within the population of patients who have an implanted cardiac rhythm management device. In one estimate, approximately 11-13% of patients with implantable pacemakers have diabetes, approximately 30-38% of patients having implantable cardioverter defibrillators have diabetes, and approximately 39-45% of patients having cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices have diabetes.
It is important that diabetic patients monitor their blood sugars (i.e., glucose). Because diabetes prevents the patient's body from naturally regulating blood sugars, the diabetic patient must administer insulin in response to blood sugar levels. Failure to closely monitor blood sugars can result in dangerous conditions of hypoglycemia (blood sugar level too low) or hyperglycemia (blood sugar level too high).
Hypoglycemia is where the patient's blood glucose level is too low. Hypoglycemia can result in unpleasant symptoms, such as dizziness or shakiness, and in severe cases, can result in dangerous symptoms such as loss of consciousness, brain damage, or death. These symptoms generally result from insufficient glucose in the blood stream to the brain, thereby diminishing the brain's function. Hypoglycemia can result from excessive insulin injection. Insulin affects the ability of the body's cells to use and consume glucose, such that insulin injections can cause the cells to use too much glucose from the blood stream too quickly, resulting in a deficiency.
Hyperglycemia is where the patient's blood glucose level is too high. Sustained high blood glucose levels can cause damage to the blood vessels and to the organs. Shorter term symptoms of hyperglycemia can result in frequent thirst, hunger, and urination, as well as fatigue, weight loss, and other symptoms. Acute hyperglycemia can result in ketoacidosis, which is where the patient's liver breaks down fats and proteins in response to a perceived need for more glucose in the bloodstream. However, the problem in a diabetic patient is generally that the patient lacks the insulin needed to use glucose, not that the blood glucose level is too low. However, the body's response is to resort to drastic measures to increase the blood glucose level, and in doing so, the patient's blood glucose level becomes elevated above a desired range.
Managing diabetes is largely about managing blood glucose levels. However, continuous testing of blood glucose levels is difficult. Most patients use a finger prick type blood glucose meter that draws a small sample of blood and analyzes it for glucose content. However, this requires patient involvement and is inconvenient and unpleasant for the patient. In some cases, the patient's compliance with the testing protocol is poor. Implantable blood glucose sensors are in development that could be used to continuously monitor blood glucose levels, however, despite extensive research and development efforts, the long-term functionality of these sensors is poor.
Improved techniques are needed for monitoring blood glucose levels of a patient.
In one aspect, an apparatus for monitoring a patient's blood glucose level is disclosed. The apparatus includes an implantable medical device having a controller and an implantable heart sounds sensor configured to transmit signals to the controller of the implantable medical device. The controller is configured to determine if a patient is hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic based on the signals from the heart sounds sensor.
In another aspect, a method for monitoring a patient's blood glucose level is disclosed. The method includes sensing the patient's heart sounds, determining the amplitude of at least one heart sound, determining the length of a time interval that ends at the S2max heart sound, and determining the length of a time interval that ends at the S2end heart sound. The method further includes determining the patient's blood glucose status based on the patient's heart sounds.
The invention may be more completely understood by considering the detailed description of various embodiments of the invention that follows in connection with the accompanying drawings.
While the invention may be modified in many ways, specifics have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives following within the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the claims.
As discussed above, a significant number of patients with diabetes also have an implantable medical device for treating a medical condition. Implantable medical devices (IMDs) are devices designed to be implanted into a patient. Some examples of these devices include cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices such as implantable pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices, and devices that include a combination of such capabilities. The devices are typically used to treat patients using electrical therapy and to aid a physician or caregiver in patient diagnosis through internal monitoring of a patient's condition. The devices may include electrodes in communication with sense amplifiers to monitor cardiac electrical activity within a patient, and often include sensors to monitor other internal patient parameters. Other examples of implantable medical devices include implantable diagnostic devices, implantable insulin pumps, devices implanted to administer drugs to a patient, or implantable devices with neural stimulation capability.
Cardiac activity can be characterized by a recording of the electrical signals from the heart. These signals can be called an electrocardiogram or an intracardiac electrogram, or just cardiac electrical signals. A typical cardiac electrical signal 5 is shown in
The QT interval is the time from the beginning of the QRS complex to the end of the T wave. The QT interval represents the total ventricular activity, from the time of the beginning of depolarization to the end of the repolarization. The QT interval varies as a function of the heart rate, where the faster the heart rate, typically the shorter the QT interval time. This is because at faster heart rates the repolarization is also faster. To account for the variability of the QT interval with heart rate, the QT interval is often corrected or normalized for heart rate so that various QT measurements can be compared. One way to calculate a corrected QT interval, commonly referred to as QTc, is to divide the actual measured QT interval by the square root of the heart rate. Symbolically, this is often represented as: QTc=QT/√RR. Other formulas for determining a corrected QT interval are also used. The QT interval, when measured as described above to the end of the T wave, is sometimes called QTend. In some cases, it is desired to also measure a separate parameter that is the time from the beginning of the QRS complex to the maximum repolarization or apex of the T wave. This parameter may be referred to as QTmax or QTapex. These parameters QTc and QTmax are generally also corrected for heart rate by dividing by the square root of heart rate.
Cardiac activity further produces heart sounds that can be monitored. Heart sounds are associated with mechanical vibrations from activity of a patient's heart and the flow of blood through the heart. Heart sounds recur with each cardiac cycle and are separated and classified according to the activity associated with the vibration. Typical heart sounds 10 are shown on
There are other heart sounds that are occasionally or rarely heard. A third heart sound (S3) derives from the rush of blood into the left ventricle at the beginning of diastole. Although normal in children and young adults, the presence of an S3 heart sound tends to indicate congestive heart failure in older patients. A fourth heart sound (S4) is related to filling pressures of the left ventricle during diastole, and occurs just after atrial contraction. S4 is rarely heard, and is usually related to a failing left ventricle.
Heart sounds can be perceived or monitored in a number of different ways. In one embodiment, heart sounds can be measured with an implantable device. Techniques for measuring heart sounds with an implantable medical device are disclosed in Published United States Patent Application 2006/0282000, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. For example, heart sounds can be measured with an accelerometer that measures the vibrations associated with heart sounds. When present in an implantable device, an accelerometer can provide for continuous monitoring of heart sounds. An implantable heart sound sensor may also be an implantable acoustic sensor or an implantable microphone; however; these are generally just other names for, or other types of, accelerometers. These devices operate by converting mechanical vibrations into an electrical signal. In some embodiments, the accelerometer is located in the can of an implantable medical device. In other embodiments, an accelerometer is located elsewhere within a patient's body and is in wireless or wired communication with an implantable medical device.
There is a correlation between blood glucose levels and cardiac activity. Not wishing to be bound by theory, it is understood that when there is a relatively greater amount of glucose in a patient's bloodstream, cellular membranes change in a manner that results in greater amounts of potassium diffusing into the cells. This in turn results in a reduction in the concentration of potassium in the bloodstream, which then affects the action potential of cardiac cells. These changes in glucose level translate into measurable changes in cardiac activity and associated electrical signals. For example, in a hyperglycemic state, it is observed that the ST-segment exhibits significant deviation relative to a baseline, and the QTmax and QTend both lengthen relative to a baseline. In one embodiment, a significant deviation is generally one that is greater than or equal to about 10 percent. However, in other embodiments, the magnitude of the deviation may be different, and may be empirically determined and may be a parameter that is set according to the judgment of a physician or other trained person and the results or performance desired. Lengthening (or shortening) of QTmax and QTend generally refers to any non-trivial change, such as in one embodiment a change of greater than or equal to about 1 percent. However, in other embodiments, the magnitude of the change may be different and may be determined based on empirical analysis and the exercise of judgment on the part of a physician. In a hypoglycemic state, the ST-segment exhibits significant deviation but there is little or no QTmax and QTend lengthening. As a related matter, it has also been determined that during cardiac ischemia, the ST-segment exhibits significant deviation, the QTmax shortens, and the QTend shows little or no change.
Furthermore, and again not wishing to be bound by theory, it is believed that the altered metabolics of a diabetic patient tend to affect the contractility and stiffness of the cardiac muscle. In particular, it is believed that changes in the blood glucose levels of a patient in turn affect the contractility and stiffness of the heart. Accordingly, by the Frank-Starling mechanism these changes in contractility and stiffness tend to affect relaxation and diastolic filling, which are two contributors to the S2 sound. Thus, it is believed that changes in patient's glucose level can change the S2 heart sound, including its intensity (the maximum amplitude of the S2 sound) and its total length.
One problem that occurs in monitoring a patient's electrocardiogram is that the T wave can be difficult to detect. More particularly, it can be difficult sometimes to differentiate between the QRS complex and the T wave in some patients and with some devices. In some cases, the QRS complex is identified by setting a voltage threshold, such that when the electrocardiogram exceeds the threshold the QRS complex is detected. However, if the voltage threshold is set too high, some QRS complexes may be missed. Likewise, if the threshold is set too low, the T wave may be detected as a QRS complex. It may not be possible to set the threshold such that these problems are reliably avoided. In some cases, the controller of an implantable CRM device is designed to filter out the T wave, but sometimes the filter is not able to accurately differentiate between the QRS complex and the T wave.
Where a patient has an implanted medical device such as an implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), the device may interpret both the QRS complex and the T wave of a single heart beat as actually two separate beats, thereby measuring a heart rate that is twice what the heart rate actually is. Under these circumstances, the ICD may determine that a state of tachycardia exists and deliver a shock to the patient's cardiac tissue in an attempt to restore a normal heart beat, when in reality this is not necessary. Also, in some cases, the T wave can be affected by medications that the patient has taken, causing measurements based on a sensed T wave to be inaccurate.
The inventors have devised a technique that avoids these difficulties by using heart sounds instead of electrocardiogram signals to detect the state of glycemic control in a patient. The inventors have determined that the S2 heart sound closely tracks the T wave in a manner that allows S2 to serve as the basis for determining the state of glycemic control in a patient. For example,
A patient in a hypoglycemic state will be expected to have significant deviation in the maximum amplitude of the S2 heart sound (or S3 heart sound) relative to a baseline. A baseline is typically a measurement that is made at a single point in time or a set of measurements over a period of time when the patient's glucose levels are relatively stable. Moreover, a patient in a hypoglycemic state will tend to exhibit lengthening in the time from S1 to S2max, and in the time from S1 to S2end. Furthermore, a patient in a hyperglycemic state will tend to exhibit significant deviation in the amplitude of the S2 or S3 heart sound, but little or no change in the time from S1 to S2max or from S1 to S2end. As an additional piece of information, a patient having ischemia will exhibit significant deviation in the amplitude of the S2 or S3 heart sound, shortening of the S1 to S2max interval, and little or no change in the time from S1 to S2end. Alternatively, each of these time measurements described herein that begin at S1 can begin instead at a sensed time corresponding to a portion of the QRS complex, such as a parameter sensed by a sense amplifier of a CRM device. In some cases, this sensed parameter can be referred to as Vsense. A chart depicting these relationships is shown in
In addition, it is believed that a patient in a hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic state will exhibit an S2 heart sound having an amplitude that deviates from a baseline. This deviation in the amplitude of the S2 heart sound can therefore be used as an indicator of the state of glycemic control in the patient.
One way to determine whether a patient is hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic is by establishing baseline data and then comparing later measurements to that baseline data. For example, a baseline measurement can be recorded when the patient is in a known state, such as immediately after the patient's glucose level has been checked and determined to be acceptable or at a suitable mid-level value. This may include determining a baseline amplitude of the S1 and S2 heart sounds, a baseline time interval from S1 to S2max, from S1 to S2end, from Vsense to S2max and/or from Vsense to S2end. Then future measurements of heart sounds can be compared against these baselines to determine whether the patient is in a hyperglycemic state or a hypoglycemic state. For example, a threshold may be established that is an increment or a percentage change from the baseline, such that a measurement that exceeds the threshold causes a determination to be made that the patient is hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic. In some embodiments, a degree of glycemic imbalance can be determined based on how far the measured values differ from the baseline values. In some cases, the trend in measured values are monitored to predict the patient's glycemic control status. Since glucose is generally consumed at a gradual pace, a trending analysis can be used to predict when a patient will reach a hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic state.
In some embodiments, the determination of whether a patient's heart sounds amplitudes and/or intervals deviate from a baseline is made over the course of a relatively small number of cardiac events, such as two or more cardiac cycles. In some other embodiments, the determination of whether a patient's heart sounds deviate from a baseline is made over the course of a greater number of cardiac events, such as the cardiac events that occur within an hour or more.
It is also possible to use the same types of analysis to determine whether ischemia is present in the patient. As described above, ischemia produces measurements that are similar to those that result from a hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic state, such as the deviation of the S1 or S2 amplitude. However, ischemia is differentiated from a hypoglycemic state or hyperglycemic state by the shortening of S1 to S2max accompanied by little or no change in S1 to S2end.
An embodiment of an implantable medical device system constructed according to the principles of the invention is depicted in
A controller 40 of CRM device 22 senses cardiac events through a sensing channel and outputs pacing pulses to the heart via a pacing channel in accordance with a programmed pacing mode. A microprocessor 80 serves as the controller in the embodiment of
The implantable medical device of
Some embodiments may include activity sensors, posture sensors, and/or time of day clocks. Determination of a patient's condition are preferably made when the patient is at rest and/or at the same time of day for consistency and accuracy of the determination. Embodiments of activity sensors include heart rate sensors, respiration rate sensors, and blood pressure sensors. If an activity sensor is included, the signal is provided to the controller 40, which then temporarily delays making a determination of a glycemic state (or ischemic condition) if the activity sensor signal indicates that the patient is physically active. In some embodiments, a threshold value is provided that the sensor signal is compared against. Embodiments of a posture sensor include an accelerometer. If a posture sensor is present, the signal is provided to controller 40, which then temporarily delays making a determination of glycemic state or ischemia if the posture sensor indicates that the patient is not in an appropriate posture. For example, the controller may be configured to only make determinations of the patient's condition when the posture sensor indicates that the patient is in a generally vertical posture, or alternatively, only when the patient is in a generally horizontal posture.
Some embodiments may include a time of day clock. In embodiments where a time of day clock is provided, the controller 40 may be configured or be configurable to make a determination of glycemic state at only certain times of day. For example, the controller may be configured to only determine the patient's glycemic state during the patient's normal sleeping hours when the patient is presumed to have not eaten for a period of time. Some embodiments include a patient control that allows the patient to initiate a determination of glycemic state on demand. For example, a patient may initiate a demand to the controller 40 to determine the patient's glycemic state at certain times, such as shortly after a meal or after the patient has not eaten for a period of time. This could allow the patient to receive information that would allow the patient to take appropriate actions to regulate his or her blood glucose level.
In an embodiment, controller 40 is configured to detect whether S2 or S3 increases in amplitude relative to a baseline. If the amplitude does not increase, the controller 40 continues to monitor the S2 or S3 heart sounds until the amplitude increases a predefined amount above the baseline. When an amplitude is detected above the predefined amount, the controller 40 is configured to determine whether the time between S1 and S2end has increased relative to the baseline by a predefined amount, and if so, to make a determination that the patient is hypoglycemic. Similarly, when an amplitude is detected above the predefined amount, the controller 40 is configured to determine that the patient is likely in a state of hyperglycemia when the time between S1 and S2max lengthens. In some embodiments, if the amplitude has increased above the predefined amount and the time between S1 and S2max decreases, then controller 40 determines that ischemia is likely.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a method for detecting the glycemic control status of a patient. An embodiment of a method 100 for detecting glycemic state is depicted in
In some embodiments of method 100, step 104 is omitted. Specifically, the implantable medical device continues to step 106 regardless of whether S2 or S3 heart sounds have increased in amplitude relative to a baseline or target. In this case, the determination of the glycemic state of the patient, and/or whether the patient exhibits cardiac ischemia, is based on the time intervals determined at steps 106, 110, and 114.
An alternative embodiment of the method of
An alternative method 160 is also useable that is a variation on methods 100 and 150. Method 160
There are several potential responses to a determination of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, or ischemia. In one embodiment, when any one of these conditions is identified, the controller transmits a message signal, such as an audible tone that can be perceived by the patient or a telemetric signal that is transmitted from antenna 44 to an external device which can display a message that is perceptible to a person such as a patient or a doctor. An example embodiment of an external device to which a signal is transmitted is the patient interface module depicted in
In another embodiment, the implantable medical device 32 includes communications with an implantable drug pump 46. There may be more than one drug pump 46 implanted in a patient. The drug pump may be activated by controller 40 in response to the determination of the presence of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, or ischemia. For example, the drug pump 46 may dispense insulin into the patient's blood stream to reduce the amount of glucose present, or may introduce drugs into the patient's blood stream to treat ischemia.
The present invention should not be considered limited to the particular examples described above, but rather should be understood to cover all aspects of the invention as fairly set out in the attached claims. Various modifications, equivalent processes, as well as numerous structures to which the present invention may be applicable will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art to which the present invention is directed upon review of the present specification. The claims are intended to cover such modifications and devices.
The above specification provides a complete description of the structure and use of the invention. Since many of the embodiments of the invention can be made without parting from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims.