Patent ID: 8923964

Claim:
An implantable neurostimulator-implemented method for aiding awakening-induced tachyarrhythmias through vagus nerve stimulation, comprising the steps of: providing an implantable neurostimulator comprising a pulse generator configured to deliver electrical therapeutic stimulation in a manner that results in creation and propagation in both afferent and efferent directions of action potentials within neuronal fibers of a patient's cervical vagus nerve; storing an operating mode of the pulse generator in a recordable memory, the storing comprising: parametrically defining an enhanced dose of the electrical therapeutic stimulation tuned to prevent initiation of or disrupt tachyarrhythmia, wherein the enhanced dose comprises continuously-cycling, intermittent and periodic electrical pulses; and parametrically defining a maintenance dose of the electrical therapeutic stimulation tuned to restore cardiac autonomic balance, wherein the maintenance dose comprises continuously-cycling, intermittent and periodic electrical pulses delivered at a lower intensity than the enhanced dose; and monitoring a patient's physiological state to sense a patient's awakening from a sleep state via at least one sensor of the implantable neurostimulator, and upon sensing the patient's awakening from the sleep state, delivering for a period of time the enhanced dose to the vagus nerve via the pulse generator through helical electrodes electrically coupled to the pulse generator via a nerve stimulation therapy lead.