Patent ID: 7066891

Claim:
A method executable by an implantable medical device (IMD) to detect ischemia in a patient's heart, the method comprising the steps of: receiving data about at least one physiologic parameter related to the severity of an ischemic episode of a patient's heart via an IMD; processing the data within the IMD to determine the severity of the ischemic episode, wherein said severity is deemed higher according to preselected criteria; in the event that the severity of the ischemic episode exceeds a present value of a variable threshold, providing an alert signal from the IMD to the patient, wherein the alert signal is determined as a function of the severity of the ischemic episode; and modulating a palliative ischemia therapy based on the relative severity of the ischemic episode wherein the processing step comprises the steps of determining whether the ischemic episode can be classified as a stable ischemic episode or an unstable ischemic episode.