Patent 7865247 was granted and assigned to Medtronic on January, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A medical device having a diode configuration in a lead assembly that substantially reduces induced currents in a lead assembly and at a tissue interface. The diodes configure an electrical path such that a stimulation pulse travels from the medical device to a selected tissue, and a current induced by an external changing electromagnetic signal is reduced and/or prevented from travelling the electrical path from the selected tissue to the medical device. The diodes may be at least partially contained in an electrode of the medical device.