Patent Document ID: 20100318154
Application ID: 12861370
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for modulating autonomic balance between parasympathetic tone and sympathetic tone in an autonomic nervous system (ANS), the method comprising: stimulating an autonomic neural target to modulate the autonomic balance in the ANS; performing a neural stimulation threshold test in response to a demand for the neural stimulation threshold test, wherein performing the neural stimulation threshold test includes: inducing a premature ventricular contraction (PVC) event or detecting an intrinsic PVC event; detecting pre-PVC heart rate data and post-PVC heart rate data; measuring heart rate turbulence (HRT) in response to the PVC event using the pre-PVC heart rate data and the post-PVC heart rate data to generate an autonomic balance indicator (ABI); and using the ABI to determine whether the neural stimulation signal evokes a response above a threshold.