Patent ID: 6975903

Claim:
A rate adaptive pacemaker comprising: an arrangement adapted for interaction with a subject for obtaining an electrical signal representing cardiac demand of said subject; a computing unit supplied with said signal for calculating an actual cardiac output CO, and a cardiac output CO rest for said subject at rest; a pacing rate controller also supplied with said signal for generating, as an output, a pacing rate dependent on said cardiac demand; and a pacing rate limiter connected to said computing unit and to said pacing rate controller for downwardly limiting said pacing rate, said pacing rate limiter calculating a stroke volume SV and a stroke volume SV rest for said subject at rest, and downwardly limiting said pacing rate so that a first predetermined relation CO>CO rest and a second predetermined relation SV/SV rest <L are satisfied, wherein L is a predetermined constant in a range between 1.2 and 1.5.