Patent ID: 7792578

Claim:
A medical device for delivering a plurality of pacing pulses to a patient having a heart generating cardiac signals to terminate a tachycardia event of a heart, the tachycardia event having a tachycardia cycle length, comprising: an electrode; a therapy module, electrically coupled to the electrode, delivering a first plurality of pacing pulses of the plurality of pacing pulses having a pacing pulse cycle length to the heart with the electrode in response to the tachycardia event; sensing circuitry, electrically coupled to the electrode, to detect the tachycardia event in response to cardiac signals sensed by the electrode; and a processor, electrically coupled to the therapy module and the sensing circuitry, wherein the processor controls the therapy module to deliver a second plurality of pacing pulses of the plurality of pacing pulses in response to the tachycardia event, at least one characteristic of the second plurality of pacing pulses being adjusted based, at least in part, on at least one of: a transit time associated with delivery of the plurality of pacing pulses, the transit time being a function of the tachycardia cycle length and a return cycle length representative of an amount of time between a last one of the first plurality of pacing pulses and the first one of the cardiac signals generated by the heart immediately following the first plurality of pacing pulses; and a prematurity defined by a difference in time between the tachycardia cycle length and a pacing cycle length defined by a time between individual ones of the plurality of pacing pulses.