Indirect Cardiac Pacing From The Esophagus

The long-term objective of CCT is to develop and commercialize new transesophageal (TE) pacing systAvailable systems pace only the atria, but one, the other, or both heart chambers must be paced to sneeds in medical emergencies and Advanced Life Support protocols. This application describes clinicaprototype probes for TE atrial and/or ventricular pacing, including one for simultaneous pacing and(ECG) monitoring. Available TE stimulators will be used for Phase I testing, and CCT's programmabledeveloped and tested during Phase II. Because TE pacing is less costly and risky than epicardial ormore reliable and effective than transcutaneous pacing, it satisfies the need for a complete noninvaanesthesiology, cardiology, critical care and emergency medicine, TE pacing can reduce drug use andmethods for treatment of bradycardia or asystole. Further, TE-ECG with signal processing may be morespecific than other methods for detection of myocardial ischemia. It is believed that CCT's productssurgical patients annually (U.S.), and several million more with life-threatening bradycardia due toother causes.