Patent ID: 7181270

Claim:
An arrangement for predicting tachyarrhythmia of a heart, comprising: means for detecting, to pick up electrical signals from the heart; an evaluation unit connected to the detection means, wherein the evaluation unit determines a rate value that depends on a heart rate of the heart and evaluates a plurality of correspondingly determined rates values, such that the evaluation process determines a drop in heart rate, and/or a heart rate variability value that depends on the variability of the detected rate values such that a relative rise in the heart rate variability value may be responded to; and a threshold value unit, connected to or integrated into the evaluation unit, which compares each relative heart rate variability value and/or the drop in heart rate to a respectively predetermined threshold value and produces a tachycardia warning signal when the relative heart rate variability value increases above the corresponding relative threshold value, and/or when the threshold value corresponding to the drop in heart rate is exceeded, said tachycardia warning signal thus being a predictive indicator of a future tachyarrhythmia of the heart.