Patent ID: 6889083

Claim:
A method of terminating a non-acing atrial refractory sense-ventricular sense (AR-VS) cardiac sequence and re-establishing a preferred pacing sequence, comprising: a) monitoring an atrial chamber and at least one ventricular chamber for delivery of a pacing therapy and for sensing of intrinsic depolarization activity and, in the event that a series of atrial refractory events (AR) occur during an initial post-ventricular atrial refractory period (PVARP) resulting in the sensing of intrinsic depolarizations of the at least one ventricular chamber; b) iteratively reducing the duration of the initial PVARP for a predetermined number of consecutive cardiac cycles until an intrinsic atrial event occurs following the PVARP and is sensed (AS) or a cardiac pattern other than an atrial refractory sense-ventricular sense (AR-VS) pattern occurs; c) delivering a ventricular pacing stimulus to the at least one ventricular chamber at the expiration of a sensed atrioventricular (SAV) delay interval; and d) extending the duration of the initial PVARP for at least a subsequent cardiac cycle and wherein the series of atrial refractory events (AR) that occur during the initial PVARP resulting in the sensing of intrinsic depolarization of the at least one ventricular chamber comprises at least five consecutive atrial refractory events (AR).