Rationale and evidence for the development of a durable device-based cardiac neuromodulation therapy for hypertension.

We assessed the feasibility of achieving acute, sustained blood pressure reductions through the use of cardiac pacing algorithms delivered via standard dual-chamber pacing based on introducing short atrio-ventricular (AV) delays (SAVD). Eighteen hypertensive subjects (57.3 ± 9.

Improvement in glycemic control in morbidly obese type 2 diabetic subjects by gastric stimulation.

Background: Gastric electrical stimulation synchronized to the refractory period of gastric electrical activity and applied during meals was evaluated for safety and for improvement of body weight and glycemic control in obese type 2 diabetes.

Methods: The study involved obese diabetic type 2 (ODM) patients in a multicenter open-label European feasibility trial. A total of 24 ODM (nine males, 15 females) treated with insulin and/or oral hyperglycemic agents and body mass index between 33.

Electrical stimulation of the gut for the treatment of type 2 diabetes: the role of automatic eating detection.

Background: Automatic eating detection (AED) can potentially support treatments that need to be synchronized with food intake. This article analyzes an implantable AED device working in conjunction with gastric stimulation intended to treat type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The device continuously senses for changes in tissue impedance and electrical activity induced by food intake and initiates treatment sessions upon detection.

The TANTALUS system for obesity: effect on gastric emptying of solids and ghrelin plasma levels.

Background: Gastric electrical stimulation (GES), using the implantable TANTALUS System, is being explored as a treatment for obesity. The system delivers nonstimulatory electrical signals synchronized with gastric slow waves, resulting in stronger contractions. We hypothesized that this GES may enhance gastric emptying and as a result affect plasma ghrelin and insulin homeostasis.

Association between gastric electromechanical activity and satiation in dogs.

Objective: The objective of this study was to validate the use of impedance for measurement of antral contractions and to determine the relationship between food-induced changes in gastric motility and satiation.

Research Methods And Procedures: In Experiment 1, three dogs were implanted with an antral strain gauge and bipolar electrodes for measurement of local tissue impedance. Impedance and strain gauge recordings were obtained simultaneously during antral contractions to correlate impedance changes with contractile events.

One-year experience with Tantalus: a new surgical approach to treat morbid obesity.

Background: Increased caloric density in modern processed foods may be an important factor underlying the prevalence of obesity, because low-volume, high-caloric food intake may delay activation of volume-dependent gastric mechanical activity known to induce the feeling of fullness. We therefore hypothesized that enhancement of gastric contractions by electrical stimulation at an early stage of the meal will reduce food intake and body weight in morbidly obese subjects.

Methods: The study was a prospective, non-randomized, open-label, single-center trial.

Enhancement of antral contractions and vagal afferent signaling with synchronized electrical stimulation.

Gastric filling activates vagal afferents involved in peripheral signaling to the central nervous system (CNS) for food intake. It is not known whether these afferents linearly encode increasing contractions of the antrum during antral distension (AD). The aim of this study was to investigate effects of AD and electrically enhanced antral contractions on responses of vagal afferents innervating the antrum.

Cardiac contractility modulation by electric currents applied during the refractory period in patients with heart failure secondary to ischemic or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

We assessed the feasibility of cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) by electric currents applied during the refractory period in patients with heart failure (HF). Extracellular electric currents modulating action potential and calcium transients have been shown to potentiate myocardial contractility in vitro and in animal models of chronic HF. CCM signals were biphasic square-wave pulses with adjustable amplitude, duration, and time delay from sensing of local electric activity.