Systems, devices and methods for acute autonomic stimulation

A method, comprising:

• identifying an emergency patient as a candidate for post myocardial infarction (post-MI) neural stimulation therapy;
• inserting a flexible tether of a portable device into the patient's throat, the flexible tether including a plurality of electrodes;
• and
• delivering autonomic neural stimulation to a desired neural target to elicit a desired neural response for the post-MI neural stimulation therapy.

A portable medical device, comprising:

• a flexible tether adapted to be fed into a patient's throat, the flexible tether including at least one neural stimulation element for use in delivering neural stimulation to a neural target;
• a neural stimulation circuit adapted to deliver neural stimulation using the at least one neural stimulation element;
• a battery terminal adapted to receive at least one battery, the battery terminal being connected to the neural stimulation circuit and the controller to enable the at least battery to power the neural stimulation circuit and the controller;
• and
• a controller adapted to control the neural stimulation circuit to provide an autonomic neural stimulation therapy using the at least one neural stimulation element.