Patent ID: 7225020

Claim:
In an implantable cardiac stimulation device having a preventive overdrive pacing unit, a tachycardia detection unit, an antitachycardia pacing (ATP) therapy unit, and a capture detection unit, a method comprising: overdrive pacing the heart by delivering overdrive pacing pulses using the preventive overdrive pacing unit; detecting loss of capture of pacing pulses during preventive overdrive pacing using the capture detection unit; detecting tachycardia occurring subsequent to a loss of capture using the tachycardia detection unit; determining, for each tachycardia occurring following a loss of capture, whether the tachycardia spontaneously terminates; and selectively enabling automatic switching from preventive overdrive pacing to ATP therapy based on a percentage of spontaneously terminating episodes of tachycardia occurring subsequent to loss capture during preventive overdrive pacing.