A minimally invasive, implantable monitor and associated method for chronically
monitoring a patient's hemodynamic function based on signals sensed by one or more
acoustical sensors. The monitor may be implanted subcutaneously or submuscularly
in relation to the heart to allow acoustic signals generated by heart or blood
motion to be received by a passive or active acoustical sensor. Circuitry for filtering
and amplifying and digitizing acoustical data is included, and sampled data may
be continuously or intermittently written to a looping memory buffer. ECG electrodes
and associated circuitry may be included to simultaneously record ECG data. Upon
a manual or automatic trigger event acoustical and ECG data may be stored in long-term
memory for future uploading to an external device. The external device may present
acoustical data visually and acoustically with associated ECG data to allow interpretation
of both electrical and mechanical heart function.