Methods and devices for determination of heart arrhythmia type

A method performed in an implantable system for determining a type of an arrhythmia in a patient's heart, the method including the steps of:

• a. monitoring initial atrial and ventricular rates of the heart;
• b. detecting a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate wherein the atrial rate is greater than or equal to the ventricular rate;
• c. upon detecting a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate during a first time period:
• (1)administering an antiarrhythmic cardioactive drug over a second time period;
• (2) detecting the response of the ventricular and atrial rates to the drug;
• (3) determining differences between:
• (a) the ventricular and atrial rates in response to the drug, and
• (b) the initial atrial and ventricular rates;
• (4) determining a type of atrial or ventricular arrhythmia from the differences, wherein if both the ventricular and atrial rates are slowed in response to the drug, an AV nodal dependent SVT is determined.

A method performed in an implantable system for determining a type of an arrhythmia in a patient's heart, the method including the steps of:

• a. monitoring initial atrial and ventricular rates of the heart;
• b. detecting a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate wherein the atrial rate is greater than or equal to the ventricular rate;
• c. upon detecting a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate during a first time period:
• (1) administering an antiarrhythmic cardioactive drug over a second time period;
• (2) detecting the response of the ventricular and atrial rates to the drug;
• (3) determining differences between:
• (a) the ventricular and atrial rates in response to the drug, and
• (b) the initial atrial and ventricular rates;
• (4) determining a type of atrial or ventricular arrhythmia from the differences, wherein if the ventricular rate has slowed in response to the drug but the atrial rate has not slowed in response to the drug, an SVT which is not dependent on the AV node is determined.

A method performed in an implantable system for determining a type of an arrhythmia in a patient's heart, the method including the steps of:

• a. measuring an initial atrial and ventricular rate of the heart over a first time period;
• b. monitoring the initial atrial and ventricular rate of the heart for:
• (1) a pathological initial ventricular rate, and/or
• (2) a pathological initial atrial rate,
• c. upon detection of a pathological initial rate:
• (1) administering a nontherapeutic amount of an antiarrhythmic cardioactive drug during a second time period, the nontherapeutic amount being less than a therapeutic amount typically prescribed for the pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate;
• (2) measuring the response of the atrial and ventricular rate of the heart to the nontherapeutic amount of the drug,
• (3) comparing the response of the atrial and ventricular rate of the heart to the initial atrial and ventricular rate over a third time period;
• (4) determining the type of atrial or ventricular arrhythmia from any differences between the response of the atrial and ventricular rate of the heart and the initial atrial and ventricular rate.

An implantable device for determining a type of an arrhythmia in a patient's heart, the device being configured to:

• a. monitor initial atrial and ventricular rates of the heart;
• b. detect a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate;
• c. administer a nontherapeutic amount of an antiarrhythmic cardioactive drug over a second time period upon detection of a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate during a first time period, the nontherapeutic amount being less than a therapeutic amount typically prescribed for the pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate;
• d. detect the response of the ventricular and atrial rates to the drug;
• e. determine a type of atrial or ventricular arrhythmia from any differences between:
• (1) the ventricular and atrial rates in response to the drug, and
• (2) the initial atrial and ventricular rates.

An implantable device for determining a type of an arrhythmia in a patient's heart, the device being configured to:

• a. monitor initial atrial and ventricular rates of the heart;
• b. detect a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate;
• c. administer an antiarrhythmic cardioactive drug over a second time period upon detection of a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate during a first time period;
• d. detect the response of the ventricular and atrial rates to the drug;
• e. determine a type of atrial or ventricular arrhythmia from any differences between:
• (1) the ventricular and atrial rates in response to the drug, and
• (2) the initial atrial and ventricular rates,
• wherein an AV nodal dependent SVT is determined if both the ventricular and atrial rates are slowed in response to the drug.

An implantable device for determining a type of an arrhythmia in a patient's heart, the device being configured to:

• a. monitor initial atrial and ventricular rates of the heart;
• b. detect a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate;
• c. administer an antiarrhythmic cardioactive drug over a second time period upon detection of a pathological initial ventricular and/or atrial rate during a first time period;
• d. detect the response of the ventricular and atrial rates to the drug;
• e. determine a type of atrial or ventricular arrhythmia from any differences between:
• (1) the ventricular and atrial rates in response to the drug, and
• (2) the initial atrial and ventricular rates,
• wherein an SVT which is not dependent on the AV node is determined if the ventricular rate has slowed in response to the drug but the atrial rate has not slowed in response to the drug.