Systems and methods of facilitating therapeutic neuromodulation

Abstract

A method of facilitating therapeutic neuromodulation of a heart of a patient includes positioning an electrode in a pulmonary artery, positioning a sensor in vasculature, delivering via a stimulation system first and second electrical signals of a series of electrical signals to the electrode. The second electrical signal differs from the first electrical signal by a magnitude of a first parameter of a plurality of parameters. The method includes determining, via the sensor, sensor data indicative of one or more heart activity properties in response to the delivery of the series of electrical signals, and delivering a therapeutic neuromodulation signal to the pulmonary artery using selected electrical parameters. The selected electrical parameters include a selected magnitude of the first parameter. The selected magnitude of the first parameter is based at least partially on the sensor data. The therapeutic neuromodulation signal increases heart contractility.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of facilitating therapeutic neuromodulation of a heart of a patient, the method comprising:
 positioning an electrode in a pulmonary artery of a heart;   positioning a sensor in a right ventricle of the heart;   delivering, via a stimulation system, a first series of electrical signals to the electrode,
 the first series comprising a first plurality of electrical signals, 
 each of the first plurality of electrical signals comprising a plurality of parameters, 
 each of the first plurality of electrical signals of the first series only differing from one another by a magnitude of a first parameter of the plurality of parameters; 
   after delivering the first series of electrical signals to the electrode, delivering, via the stimulation system, a second series of electrical signals to the electrode,
 the second series comprising a second plurality of electrical signals, 
 each of the second plurality of electrical signals comprising the plurality of parameters, 
 each of the second plurality of electrical signals of the second series only differing from one another by a magnitude of a second parameter of the plurality of parameters, 
 the second parameter different than the first parameter; 
   determining, via the sensor, sensor data indicative of one or more non-electrical heart activity properties in response to delivering the first series of electrical signals and the second series of electrical signals; and   delivering a therapeutic neuromodulation signal to the pulmonary artery using selected electrical parameters,   wherein the selected electrical parameters comprise a selected magnitude of the first parameter and a selected magnitude of the second parameter,   wherein the selected magnitudes of the first and second parameters are based at least partially on the sensor data, and   wherein the therapeutic neuromodulation signal increases heart contractility more than heart rate.