Patient identification for the pacing therapy using LV-RV pressure loop

An apparatus for determining whether a patient with CHF will benefit from pacing therapy comprising:

• (a) means for sensing pressure variations in the left and right ventricle of patient's heart and producing an electrical signal proportional thereto;
• (b) means for converting the electrical signal to a digital quantity;
• (c) a microprocessor having a memory for storing samples of the digital quantities over a predetermined time period;
• (d) means for determining how many heart beats occur during the predetermined time period;
• (e) means for determining whether a heart beat is normal or not;
• (f) means for calculating PP_Areas for heart beats occurring during the predetermined time period, and a mean value of the PP_Areas;
• (g) means for determining whether the mean PP_Area of a given pacing therapy is above or below a predetermined threshold, as an indicator of whether the patient is a responder or a non-responder to the given pacing therapy.

An apparatus for determining whether a patient with CHF will benefit from pacing therapy, comprising:

• (a) an implantable electronics module containing a microprocessor and a memory coupled to the microprocessor for storing a program of instructions and calculated operands;
• (b) pressure transducers positioned to sense left and right ventricular pressures and for producing electrical signals proportional thereto;
• (c) means for applying the electrical signals as digital quantities to the microprocessor;
• (d) means responsive to the execution of the program for computing a mean value of pulse pressure areas from the digital quantities over a predetermined time interval;
• and
• (e) means including the microprocessor for determining whether the computed mean value is greater than, equal to or less than a predetermined threshold as an indicator of whether the patient will benefit from pacing therapy.