IMPLANTABLE CARDIAC STIMULATOR FOR DETECTION AND TREATMENT OF VENTRICULAR ARRHYTHMIAS

摘要

A cardiac stimulator for detecting and treating ventricular tachyarrhythmias of a patient's heart includes means for selectively dividing the heart rate continuum into regions including at least two classes of tachycardia, contiguous to each other and of progressively higher heart rate ranges, the lowest and highest of the tachycardia classes being bounded respectively by a sinus rate region and a fibrillation region of the continuum. Means is provided for selectively adjusting the boundaries between the tachycardia classes and between the lowest and highest of those classes and the respective sinus rate and fibrillation regions, to correspondingly adjust the rate ranges of the classes in a desired manner. Means is also provided for selectively detecting cardiac events anywhere within the continuum and for distinguishing between normal and abnormal tachycardias among the detected events. The stimulator additionally includes means for selectively treating a detected abnormal tachycardia with any of a multiplicity of therapy regimens of differing degrees of aggressiveness, toward terminating the detected tachycardia.