Cardiac rhythm management device with automatic optimization of performance related pacing parameters

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A dual chamber cardiac pacemaker incorporating a microprocessor-based controller which is programmed to automatically establish an A-V interval at a value which provides optimum cardiac function but without the need for a special sensor for measuring cardiac function is described. The microprocessor is programmed to continuously monitor heart rate and variation in heart rate and only when the patient is stable enter a parameter, adjustment loop in which the pacemaker's A-V interval is incremented in several discrete steps and for each step the, corresponding average steady-state heart rate is measured and stored. When the A-V interval incrementation process causes that interval to reach a …