ANS controlled closed loop cardiac pacing - a multicenter study

A pacemaker system has been developed that in controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It measures the intracardiac impedance and derives a measure for the sympathetic drive from specific characteristics of the impedance curves. The pacing rate is adapted to this measure and thus is put under closed loop control of the ANS. In this paper the validity of the sensor principle and calculation of pacing rate were investigated. The formation of a closed-loop pacing rate regulation was demonstrad. Furthermore the entire system was validated in a clinical stting evaluating rate adaptive performance and benefit for the patient.