Escalating defibrillation therapies based on arrhythmia burdens

A method, comprising:

• determining, by analyzing an electrocardiogram (ECG) of a subject, a time period between administration of a first electrical shock to the subject and a subsequent initiation of a shockable arrhythmia of the subject, the shockable arrhythmia comprising ventricular fibrillation (VF) or ventricular tachycardia (VT);
• predicting that a multi-shock therapy is indicated by analyzing the time period;
• and
• in response to predicting that the multi-shock therapy is indicated, causing administration of the multi-shock therapy to the subject, the multi-shock therapy comprising a second electrical shock and a third electrical shock.

A medical device, comprising:

• a measurement circuit configured to detect an electrocardiogram (ECG) of a subject;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• determine, by analyzing the ECG of the subject, a time period between administration of a first electrical shock to the subject and a subsequent initiation of a shockable arrhythmia of the subject, the shockable arrhythmia comprising ventricular fibrillation (VF) or ventricular tachycardia (VT);
• predict that a multi-shock therapy is indicated by analyzing the time period;
• and
• in response to predicting that the multi-shock therapy is indicated, cause administration of the multi-shock therapy to the subject, the multi-shock therapy comprising a second electrical shock and a third electrical shock.