Patent ID: 7062314

Claim:
A cardiac rhythm management device, comprising: a sensing channel for sensing ventricular electrogram signal and generating a ventricular sense (R wave) when the electrogram signal exceeds a specified threshold value; circuitry for measuring and collecting time intervals between successive R waves and storing the collected intervals as a discrete RR interval signal; bandpass filters for filtering the RR interval signal into defined high and low frequency bands; a power detector for determining the signal power of the RR interval signal in each of the low and high frequency bands, referred to LF and HF, respectively; and, circuitry for computing an LF/HF ratio and triggering a diagnostic mode if the LF/HF ratio exceeds a predetermined ratio threshold value, wherein upon entering the diagnostic mode, the device activates processing circuitry that performs data analysis to assess the probability of the occurrence of a pathological event.