Implantable cardiac stimulation device and method that stabilizes ventricular rate during episodes of atrial fibrillation

摘要

An implantable cardiac stimulation device and method provide electrical stimulation therapy to stabilize the ventricular rate of a heart during episodes of atrial fibrillation. The stimulation therapy may be a plurality of stimulation pulses delivered to the AV node during the AV node refractory period following the sensing of an atrial event. Alternatively, the stimulation therapy may be a plurality of sub-threshold stimulation pulses delivered to capture AV node vagal innervations following the detection of atrial fibrillation.