Patent ID: 8532768

Claim:
An electrotherapy device for electrical anti-tachycardia therapy of a heart, the device including: a. a tachycardia registration unit ( 90 ) configured to: (1) detect a tachycardia of a ventricle of the heart, and (2) record characteristics of the detected tachycardia; b. at least one stimulation unit ( 56 , 50 ) configured to deliver a therapy sequence to the ventricle, each therapy sequence containing a sequence of anti-tachycardia therapies, wherein: (1) each anti-tachycardia therapy within the therapy sequence includes the delivery of at least one stimulation/defibrillation pulse to the ventricle, and (2) the anti-tachycardia therapies within the therapy sequence differ from one another in one or more therapy characteristics, the therapy characteristics including: (a) the intensity of the stimulation/defibrillation pulses, (b) the number of the stimulation/defibrillation pulses, and (c) the order and timing of the stimulation/defibrillation pulses, c. a control unit ( 54 ) configured to control the stimulation unit ( 56 , 50 ) to deliver the therapy sequence to the ventricle after detection of a tachycardia; d. a therapy success memory ( 96 ); e. a therapy success registration unit ( 90 , 92 ) configured to: (1) store data in the therapy success memory ( 96 ) characterizing (a) the tachycardia, and (b) any anti-tachycardia therapy within the therapy sequence resulting in termination of the tachycardia, and (2) compile therapy success statistics based on the data stored in the therapy success memory ( 96 ), wherein the control unit ( 54 , 92 ) is configured to: I. revise the order of the anti-tachycardia therapies within the therapy sequence in dependence on how often each anti-tachycardia therapy within the therapy sequence resulted in termination of a tachycardia in comparison with the other anti-tachycardia therapies of the therapy sequence; and II. inhibit subsequent delivery by the stimulation unit ( 56 , 50 ) of any anti-tachycardia therapy resulting in an accelerating tachycardia, thereby preventing the anti-tachycardia therapy's later usage within the therapy sequence.