Patent ID: 7957799

Claim:
An external cardiac medical device for delivering cardiac potentiation therapy to a patient, comprising: a plurality of electrodes adapted for attachment to external body surfaces of the patient and configured for delivering therapy to the patient; a controller electrically connected to the plurality of electrodes; and a therapy delivery system electrically connected to the plurality of electrodes, the therapy delivery system configured for delivery of defibrillation shocks to the patient and for delivering electrical stimulation pulses to the patient over a series of cardiac cycles to increase the patient's cardiac output, the controller configured for triggering the delivery of the electrical stimulation pulses following an estimation that cardiac output of the patient is insufficient, the estimation provided via non-invasive assessment of cardiac condition of the patient by one or more of the controller or an operator, the therapy delivery system directed by the controller to deliver the electrical stimulation pulses outside refractory periods of the cardiac cycles; wherein the non-invasive assessment of the patient's cardiac condition involves consideration of cardiac information of the patient or lack thereof, the cardiac information attained non-invasively, and wherein the cardiac information comprises one or more of cardiac signals and hemodynamic parameters; wherein the cardiac information comprises one or more measurements supplied by the controller, wherein the one or more measurements comprise one or more of ventricular fibrillation duration and one or more patient pulse detection measurements; and wherein the ventricular fibrillation duration comprises a time period beginning at activation of the external cardiac medical device and ending at delivery of the defibrillation shocks, and wherein a measured time period greater than two minutes comprises a trigger for the delivery of the electrical stimulation pulses.