Patent ID: 8175702

Claim:
A method for terminating a ventricular tachycardia event in a patient comprising: establishing a termination window associated with the ventricular tachycardia event that is defined as a time period based on a frequency of the ventricular tachycardia event; applying one or more unpinning pulses in the termination window to unpin a rotating wave associated with one or more anatomical reentries causing the ventricular tachycardia event; and applying a plurality of anti-repinning (ARP) pulses following the one or more unpinning pulses and within the termination window and without verification of the ventricular tachycardia event to exterminate any unpinned, functional reentries, wherein the one or more unpinning pulses have an energy that is higher than conventional anti-tachy pacing pulses and lower than an expected lower limit of vulnerability of the patient and the plurality of ARP pulses have an energy that is less than the one or more unpinning pulses.