Patent ID: 7392082
Filing Date: 2008-06-24
Classification: A61N

Abstract:
1. In an implantable medical device (IMD) of the type that detects intrinsic depolarizations of a heart chamber, detects a tachycardia episode, and responds to the detected tachycardia of a heart chamber by delivering at least one anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) regimen to the heart chamber, a method of delivering the ATP regimens further comprising: (a) upon detection of a tachycardia episode, delivering an exploratory ATP sequence of pacing pulses to the heart chamber to elicit a paced depolarization of the heart chamber upon delivery of at least the last delivered ATP pulse; (b) measuring an exploratory return cycle length (RCL) from the last delivered exploratory ATP sequence pacing pulse to the next detected intrinsic depolarization; (c) formulating an ATP regimen having ATP parameters formulated as a function of the measured exploratory RCL; (d) delivering the ATP regimen to the heart chamber; (e) following delivery of the ATP regimen, determining whether the tachycardia episode is terminated; and (f) if the tachycardia episode is determined to be terminated in step (e), storing the measured exploratory RCL used in formulating the delivered ATP regimen and storing the delivered ATP regimen as a successful ATP regimen, the stored ATP regimen being stored in association with the stored measured exploratory RCL in IMD memory.