Patent ID: 8527064

Claim:
An implantable medical device for stimulating an autonomic neural target from within a pulmonary artery, comprising: at least one electrode; a power supply; a neural stimulator connected to the power supply, and configured to generate a neural stimulation signal for delivery to the neural stimulation target through the at least one electrode; and an anchor structure configured to chronically and securely implant the neural stimulator, the power supply and the at least one electrode within the pulmonary artery, wherein the neural stimulator is configured to implement the neural stimulation protocol to: sense at least two physiological parameters indicative of autonomic health which can be used as a control input for delivering neural stimulation, wherein the at least two parameters have different time responses to a change in the autonomic health such that a first physiological parameter provides an indication of autonomic health that is more acute than a second physiological parameter; generate a composite index using the at least two physiological parameters, including weighting each of the at least two physiological parameters based at least in part on each parameter's time response; and use the composite index to control delivery of the neural stimulation.