Patent ID: 6445949
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: A61N

Abstract:
An implantable cardiac stimulation device for providing therapy to a patient's heart, the device comprising:a sense amplifier that senses signals from the patient's heart and generates signals related to the patient's heart rate; a memory circuit for storing threshold settings for determining the type of antiarrhythmic therapy to be applied to the patient's heart for a range of heart rates defined by the stored threshold settings; a control and timing circuit coupled to the sense amplifier and the memory circuit that generates control signals responsive to the sense signals and the threshold settings, the control signals defining one of a plurality of antiarrhythmic therapies, wherein the therapy is selected in accordance with the relationship of the sensed heart rate and the stored threshold settings; a pulse generator that generates therapeutic pulses to the patient's heart in response to the control signals; and a rate threshold adjusting circuit being adapted to adjust the threshold settings stored in the memory circuit in accordance with the response of the patient to the selected antiarrhythmic therapy.