Method and apparatus for assessing ventricular contractile status

Methods and devices for improving ventricular contractile status of a patient suitably exploit changes in ventricular pressure and/or dP/dtmax to provide and/or optimize a response to a patient. The ventricular pressure may be appropriately correlated to intracellular calcium regulation, which is indicative of contractile status. To assess ventricular contractile status, the device suitably observes a cardiac perturbation of the patient and measures force interval potentiation following the perturbation. The contractile potentiation can then be stored and/or quantified in the implantable medical device to determine the ventricular contractile status of the patient, and an appropriate response may be provided to the patient as a function of the ventricular contractile status. Examples of responses may include administration of drug or neuro therapies, modification of a pacing rate, or the like. Force interval potentiation may also be used to optimize or improve a parameter for a response provided by the implantable medical device.