Patent ID: 7840264

Claim:
An apparatus for inhibiting the conduction of spurious electrical impulses in cardiac tissue comprising: a cardiac sensor for detecting a symptom associated with an arrhythmia; a temperature sensor, wherein the temperature sensor detects a start temperature of the cardiac tissue at the time the symptom is detected; a processor comprising logic adapted for: evaluating the sensed arrhythmia and the cardiac tissue start temperature; and using the evaluation of the sensed arrhythmia and the cardiac tissue temperature, selecting one or more remedial measures from the group consisting of applying a temperature decrease to the cardiac tissue and applying a pacing pulse to the cardiac tissue; a heat-transfer operator situated at a targeted portion, wherein the heat transfer operator is adapted to respond to the processor to remove heat from the targeted portion served by that heat-transfer operator if the temperature decrease remedial measure is selected; a cardiac stimulation generator; and a cardiac stimulation electrode, wherein the electrode is connected to the cardiac stimulation generator, and wherein the cardiac stimulation generator is adapted to apply a pacing pulse to the cardiac tissue if the pacing pulse remedial measure is selected.