Patent ID: 8855762

Claim:
A cardiac pacing system for delivering cardiac pacing to a heart having a myocardium, comprising: a sensing circuit configured to sense a signal indicative of an ischemic event; an ischemia detector coupled to the sensing circuit, the ischemic detector configured to detect the ischemic event using the sensed signal; a pulse output circuit configured to deliver cardiac pacing pulses; a control circuit coupled to the ischemia detector and the pulse output circuit, the control circuit configured to initiate one or more cardiac protection pacing sequences in response to a detection of the ischemic event and time the initiated one or more cardiac protection pacing sequences, the one or more cardiac protection pacing sequences each including alternating pacing and non-pacing periods, the pacing periods each having a pacing duration during which plurality of the cardiac pacing pulses is delivered to the heart to change distribution of stress in the myocardium, the non-pacing periods each having a non-pacing duration during which none of the cardiac pacing pulses is delivered; and an implantable housing containing at least the ischemia detector, the pulse output circuit, and the control circuit, wherein the control circuit is configured to initiate at least one postconditioning pacing sequence in response to expiration of a post-ischemia time interval after an end of the ischemic event is detected by the ischemia detector, the postconditioning pacing sequence being one of the one or more cardiac protection pacing sequences, the post-ischemia time interval starting when the end of the ischemic event is detected by the ischemia detector.