Patent ID: 6941170

Claim:
In an implantable cardiac stimulation device comprising a sense amplifier that receives signals representative of electrical activity in the heart of a patient, a rate-responsive sensor that generates signals representative of a degree of activity of the patient, a pulse generator that generates overdrive pacing pulses that are delivered to the heart of the patient, and a control unit that controls the pulse generator, a method for overdrive pacing the heart to prevent tachycardia, the method comprising: receiving signals from the rate-responsive sensor representative of a degree of activity of the patient; determining a sensor indicated rate based on the signals received from the rate-responsive sensor; receiving signals from the sense amplifier representative of electrical activity in the heart of the patient; and adjusting a pulse generator overdrive pacing rate based on the sensor indicated rate and on the intrinsic heart signals to generate overdrive pacing pulses for delivery to the heart to prevent tachycardia, wherein the overdrive pacing rate is decreased when a significant decrease of sensor indicated rate is determined by the controller.