Diastolic Timed Vibrator: Noninvasive Pre-Hospitalization Treatment of Acute Coronary Ischemia

Abstract

The speed of intervention is one of the major factors in increasing the survival rate of patients suffering from acute coronary ischemia. The two principal techniques currently in use: pharmacological and interventional, can be employed to re-canalize coronary arteries, but the former is slow acting and often leads to incomplete reperfusion, while the latter requires specialized personnel in a hospital with a cardiac catheterization laboratory. In this paper, we introduce a novel method intended for pre-hospitalization treatment of patients with acute coronary ischemia that can be safely applied by a minimally trained individual prior to or during patient transportation to hospital. It consists in applying low frequency mechanical vibrations to the left intercostal space of patient's chest during diastole of the heart cycle, to induce vibrations of the heart and thus of the coronary arteries. Mechanical vibrations stimulate mixing of blood which improves drug delivery to the occlusion site, applies mechanical force on the clot leading to its faster dissolution and finally acts as a strong vasodilator in case of spasms. We introduce the principle of operation and the architecture of the Diastolic Timed Vibrator (DTV), including a custom ECG processing algorithm, vibration pattern generator and active braking methods. Experimental results demonstrate the functionality of the DTV device and pave way for in-vivo tests necessary for clinical confirmation of the proposed method.