Housing for a medical implant

Abstract

A housing for a medical implant, such as a cardiac pacemaker, defibrillator, cardioverter, or the like, the housing having a hollow housing and a terminal body attached to the hollow housing, which has at least one electrical terminal, situated in an externally accessible cavity of the terminal body, for connecting an electrode line, and the terminal body comprising a base body made of electrically insulating plastic, which is connected to the hollow housing and carries electrical supply lines and electrical contacts, which are electrically connected thereto, for the electrical terminal in such a way that the contacts are to be connected via the electrical supply lines to electrical components in the interior of the hollow housing, electrical supply lines being welded to the electrical contacts and the electrical supply lines and electrical contacts, which are welded to one another, being embedded in the base body and thus fixed in their final position, and the base body being glued to the hollow housing an adhesive between hollow housing and terminal body.

1 . A housing for a medical implant, such as a cardiac pacemaker, defibrillator, cardioverter, or the like comprising: 
 a housing;    said housing comprising a hollow housing and a terminal body attached to said hollow housing which has at least one electrical terminal situated in an externally accessible cavity of said terminal body configured to connect to an electrode line;    said terminal body comprising a base body made of electrically insulating plastic which is connected to said hollow housing and carries electrical supply lines and electrical contacts which are electrically connected thereto and in such a way that said electrical contacts are to be connected to electrical components in an interior of said hollow housing via said electrical supply lines; and,    said electrical supply lines welded to said electrical contacts and wherein said electrical supply lines and electrical contacts which are welded to one another are embedded or extrusion coated in a base body and thus fixed in their final position.    
   
   
       2 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said electrical supply lines and said electrical contacts are fixed by dual-stage or multistage extrusion coating or embedding.  
   
   
       3 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said base body is at least partially transparent and allows a view of said at least one electrical terminal from outside of said terminal body.  
   
   
       4 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said base body comprises a transparent plastic, which may be processed as a cast resin or as a thermoplastic.  
   
   
       5 . The housing according to  claim 4  wherein said base body comprises a transparent plastic, which contains polyurethane and/or epoxide resin.  
   
   
       6 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said terminal body is glued to said hollow housing an adhesive.  
   
   
       7 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said base body has at least one further cavity which is originally externally open and configured to receive functional assemblies.  
   
   
       8 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said functional assembly is an x-ray marker.  
   
   
       9 . The housing according to  claim 7  wherein said functional assembly is a cover having at least one sealing stopper.  
   
   
       10 . The housing according to  claim 9  wherein said cover is tightly glued to said base body using an adhesive.  
   
   
       11 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said electrical terminal is formed by at least one plug socket and an electrical contact situated in said plug socket wherein said plug socket is configured to receive a terminal plug of an electrode line.  
   
   
       12 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said electrical supply lines in said terminal body are formed by flat lines made of conductive material comprising corrosion-retardant steels, pure titanium, a titanium alloy, pure niobium, a niobium alloy, or an iron-free cobalt based alloy.  
   
   
       13 . The housing according to  claim 1  further comprising a line forming an antenna which is embedded together with said supply lines in said base body or extrusion coated therewith and thus fixed in a final position.  
   
   
       14 . The housing according to  claim 13  wherein said antenna is formed by a flat line made of conductive material comprising corrosion-retardant steels, pure titanium, a titanium alloy, pure niobium, a niobium alloy, or an iron-free cobalt based alloy.  
   
   
       15 . The housing according to  claim 13  wherein said electrical supply lines and/or said antenna made of flat lines made of conductive material lie in one plane and are produced in bulk.  
   
   
       16 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said base body has two cavities for receiving anchors attached to said hollow housing on a side facing toward said hollow housing which together with said two cavities cause precise positioning of said base body in relation to said hollow housing before and when said terminal body is coupled with said hollow housing.  
   
   
       17 . The housing according to  claim 1  wherein said housing is a housing of an implantable cardiac pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator or a combination of both.  
   
   
       18 . A method for producing a housing for a medical implant comprising: 
 fixing electrical supply lines, electrical contacts, and an antenna in an injection mold;    embedding or partially extrusion coating in a first injection procedure, said electrical contacts, said electrical supply lines and said antenna;    fixing a molded part in said injection mold; and,    embedding completely in a second injection procedure, said electrical supply lines, said electrical contacts and said antenna to obtain a final form of a terminal body.    
   
   
       19 . The method according to  claim 18  further comprising: 
 joining said electrical contacts to said electrical supply lines using a weld.    
   
   
       20 . The method according to  claim 18  wherein said electrical supply lines, said electrical contacts, and said antenna are fixed in said injection mold using a retention.  
   
   
       21 . The method according to  claim 20  further comprising: 
 removing said retention; and,    filling up hollow spaces resulting when said retention is removed.    
   
   
       22 . The method according to  claim 18  further comprising: 
 pre-mounting one or more of said electrical contacts using one or more clamping screws; and,    injecting on or extrusion coating a cover and to seal a screw contact to an outside portion of said cover.    
   
   
       23 . The method according to  claim 18  wherein a different plastic is used for said second injection procedure than for said first injection procedure.