A system and method for monitoring left ventricular cardiac contractility and
for
optimizing a cardiac therapy based on left ventricular lateral wall acceleration
(LVA) are provided. The system includes an implantable or external cardiac stimulation
device in association with a set of leads including a left ventricular epicardial
or coronary sinus lead equipped with an acceleration sensor. The device receives
and processes acceleration sensor signals to determine a signal characteristic
indicative of LVA during isovolumic contraction. A therapy optimization method
evaluates the LVA during varying therapy settings and selects the setting(s) that
correspond to a maximum LVA during isovolumic contraction. In one embodiment, the
optimal inter-ventricular pacing interval for use in cardiac resynchronization
therapy is determined as the interval corresponding to the highest amplitude of
the first LVA peak during isovolumic contraction.
