Microcomputer-based cardiac pacemaker-control system through blood temperature.
A microcomputer-based temperature-sensitive cardiac pacemaker system and some preliminary experiments are described. The system consists of a microcomputer, a twin 5 in floppy disk unit, expansion and interface units, a visual display unit and a printer. It senses the blood temperature in the right atrium, determines the pacing rate and supplies the heart with stimulating pulses. System-heart interfacing is performed by the separate pacing and sensing units which communicate with the computer via a peripheral interface IC in an expansion unit. The pacing rate is determined by software, rather than a combination of hardware elements. The temperature response time of the system, from 25 degrees C to 40 degrees C is about 26 s, and this would seem to be satisfactory given that smaller and slower changes in blood temperature are normal.
D000818:Animals; D001790:Blood Physiological Phenomena; D001831:Body Temperature; D003201:Computers; D004285:Dogs; D006339:Heart Rate; D008838:Microcomputers; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial; D012984:Software