Implantable neural electrical stimulator for external control of gastrointestinal motility

Functional electrical stimulation has been suggested as a possible avenue for treating a variety of gastrointestinal motility-related disorders such as gastroparesis, chronic constipation and morbid obesity. The aims of the present study were to design a radio-frequency controlled multi-channel implantable neural gastrointestinal electrical stimulator and test it in an acute canine model. The stimulation parameters can be reprogrammed after implantation, allowing the execution of parametric studies and the investigation of their efficacy in producing controlled gastrointestinal contractions. Bipolar pulse trains of 50 Hz frequency, 8–16Vpp amplitude, 10–100% duty cycle, 1–120 s duration, and 2 s to 1 h pause between successive stimulation sessions were delivered to the stomachs of nine dogs. The resulting contractions were measured by force transducers and digitally recorded on a personal computer. The acute studies confirmed the effectiveness of electrical stimulation in producing invoked gastric contractile activity under the control of the implantable neurostimulator.