Patent ID: 7089055

Claim:
A cardiac rhythm management device, comprising: a sensing channel for generating electrograms reflecting cardiac electrical activity; a defibrillation shocking channel for delivering a defibrillation shock pulse to the heart; a stimulation channel for delivering stimulation pulses to improve post-shock cardiac function; a controller for causing the defibrillation shocking channel to deliver a first defibrillation shock with no preceding stimulation pulses upon detection of a tachyarrhythmia from the sensed electrogram; wherein the controller is programmed to deliver subsequent defibrillation shocks with increasing energy until the tachyarrhythmia is terminated or a specified maximum energy is reached; and, wherein the controller is programmed to cause the delivery of a series of stimulation pulses to the heart prior to delivery of a subsequent defibrillation shock if the energy of the subsequent defibrillation shock is above a specified threshold and if the tachyarrhythmia has been present for a minimum specified time.