Herzschrittmachersystem mit durch das tägliche Muster gesteuerter Schnellgang zur Vorbeugung einer Tachykardie

There is provided a cardiac pacemaker system with a ventricular tachycardia prevention feature, whereby the pacemaker monitors ventricular activity during each patient awakening period to determine when VT is likely. In a preferred embodiment, QRS and T wave templates are generated cyclically during awakening, and compared to normal templates to obtain a measure of variability, indicative of refractory dispersion and thus of probable VT. Ventricular extra-systoles are also monitored and analyzed during the awakening period to see how closely they occur to the ventricular vulnerable period. When the monitored data indicates VT probability during awakening, the pacemaker responds by overdriving the heart with an intervention pacing rate which is continually adjusted as a function of the currently obtained data.