Patent ID: 8170664

Claim:
A method for monitoring a patient's heart disease, comprising: (a) during a period of time, using an implanted sensor to measure a physiologic property when the patient's heart is not stressed, and to measure the physiologic property when the patient's heart is stressed by pacing the patient's heart to exceed a specified threshold for a specified length of time; (b) determining a slope indicative of a change in the physiologic property that occurs in response to the patient's heart changing from not being stressed to being stressed, or vice versa, during the period of time; and (c) monitoring an extent of the heart disease based on a magnitude of the slope; wherein the physiologic property is selected from the group consisting of venous oxygen saturation (SVO2), left atrial pressure (LAP), cardiomechanics (CMES), cardiogenic impedance (Zc) and transthoracic impedance (Z).