Patent ID: 8032216

Claim:
An implantable medical device, comprising: means for pacing at an atrial test rate; means for sensing to determine if ventricular conduction occurs; means for measuring the AV delay if conduction occurred; means for recording the AV delay as corresponding to the test rate in the implantable medical device (IMD); means for increasing the test rate by a predetermined increment and repeating the steps of sensing measuring and recording; means for operating the IMD according to a ventricular pacing protocol (VPP); means for sensing a premature ventricular contraction (PVC) in a first cardiac cycle; means for measuring a duration of a first ventricular interval from a ventricular event immediately preceding the PVC to the PVC; means for calculating a duration of a second ventricular interval to occur from the PVC to a target ventricular sensed event; and means for modifying atrial timing in the first cardiac cycle to effect the second ventricular interval, wherein the modification to atrial timing is only made if data recorded in the memory indicates successful AV conduction at the modified atrial rate.