Patent ID: 7647114

Claim:
A system for providing baroreflex stimulation, comprising: a heart rate monitor to sense a heart rate and provide a signal indicative of the heart rate; and a baroreflex stimulator, including: a pulse generator to chronically deliver an efficacious intermittent baroreflex stimulation, wherein the pulse generator is programmed to generate a stimulation signal in a recurring succession of stimulation cycles to provide the efficacious intermittent baroreflex stimulation, wherein the stimulation signal is generated for a portion of each stimulation cycle and is not generated for another portion of each stimulation cycle; and wherein the efficacious intermittent baroreflex stimulation is associated with a programmed target heart rate change between a first heart rate during the portion of each stimulation cycle when the stimulation signal is generated and a second heart rate during the other portion of each stimulation cycle when the stimulation signal is not generated; and a modulator to adjust the stimulation signal based on the signal indicative of the heart rate such that the stimulation signal results in the target heart rate change between the first heart rate and the second heart rate to maintain efficacy of the efficacious intermittent baroreflex stimulation.