A method of modifying the force of contraction of at least a portion of a heart chamber, including providing a subject having a heart, comprising at least a portion having an activation, and applying a non-excitatory electric field having a given duration, at a delay after the activation, to the portion, which causes the force of contraction to be increased by at least 5%.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/101,723, filed Jul. 8, 1998, incorporated herein by reference, which is a National Phase of PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IL97/00012, filed Feb. 5, 1997.
The present application is related to the following U.S. and Israeli applications, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. provisional application 60/009,769, titled "Cardiac Electromechanics", filed on Jan. 11, 1996, Israel application 116,699, titled "Cardiac Electromechanics", filed on Jan. 8, 1996, U.S. Provisional application 60/011,117, titled "Electrical Muscle Controller", filed Feb. 5, 1996, Israel application 119,261, titled "Electrical Muscle Controller", filed Sep. 17, 1996, U.S. Provisional application 60/026,392, titled "Electrical Muscle Controller", filed Sep. 16, 1996 and a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/595,365 titled "Cardiac Electromechanics", filed Feb. 1, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,096.
The invention comprises methods of increasing contractile force and/or the motility of a GI tract. A first method comprises selecting a portion of the GI tract and applying a non-excitatory electric field to the portion, which field increases the force of contraction at the portion. A second method comprises determining a timing of a returning wave in the GI tract and applying an electric field to at least a portion of the GI tract, which electric field reduces the response of the GI tract to the returning wave.
An apparatus and method for conferring a therapeutic current on the heart and adjacent vasculature from externally positioned electrodes is provided. The apparatus includes a first electrode, a second electrode and a current generator. The method includes applying an electric stimulus to the heart and maintaining the timing and/or level of current to prevent unwanted depolarization.
A cardiac electro-stimulatory device and method for operating same in which stimulation pulses are distributed among a plurality of electrodes fixed at different sites of the myocardium in order to reduce myocardial hypertrophy brought about by repeated pacing at a single site and/or increase myocardial contractility. In order to spatially and temporally distribute the stimulation, the pulses are delivered through a switchable pulse output configuration during a single cardiac cycle, with each configuration comprising one or more electrodes fixed to different sites in the myocardium.
A method and device are disclosed for using electrochemistry to rejuvenate skin and underlying tissue and to build and strengthen muscles by applying pulses of DC electrical charge, at a duration in the range of about 0.2 to about 1 millisecond and a variable frequency in the range of about 400 to about 1200 Hertz, to the skin immersed into an container of an electrolyte by means of an anode immersed in or connected to the container to cause the muscle to twitch or only slightly contract with each pulse. The DC is applied at variable current amplitude of from about 1 to about 50 milliamperes, and a voltage in the range of about 50 to about 120 volts.
A method and device are disclosed for using electrochemistry to build and strengthen muscles by applying pulses of DC electrical charge, at a duration in the range of about 0.2 to about 1 millisecond and a frequency of at least 1000 Hertz, to the skin by means of an anodic probe overlying the motor endplate regions/neuromuscular junctions of the muscle at such a strength to cause the muscle to twitch or only slightly contract with each pulse. The DC is applied at current amplitude of from about 5 to about 25 milliamperes, and a voltage in the range of about 50 to about 120 volts. A DC power source is used to deliver the electrical charge, preferably of at least 3 watts.
