Method and apparatus for monitoring myocardial conduction velocity for diagnostics of therapy optimization

摘要

A cardiac stimulation device and method to measure a myocardial conduction time and to store its long-term running average. A multipolar lead is used to deliver a stimulation pulse from a tip electrode and detect the evoked response after it has propagated to a ring electrode. The time between the stimulation pulse and a detected feature of the evoked response is determined as the myocardial conduction time. A long-term average myocardial conduction time is calculated by averaging on the order of five hundred stimulated cardiac cycles, and a running average is stored in memory. Shifts in the myocardial conduction time may be used for monitoring disease progression or the long-term response to a treatment.