A system and method for virtually detecting a medical condition, such as
acute myocardial infarction (AMI), in a patient using holistic diagnostic
procedures implemented in medical devices. Physiological parameters in a
patient are monitored in an implantable medical device (IMD) to detect
deviations from desired characteristics. When severe physiological
parameter deviations exist indicating with a desired certainty that the
patient is experiencing a medical condition (e.g., AMI), an alert is
generated. If only minor deviations from the desired characteristics
exist, additional holistic diagnostic procedures are performed virtually
for diagnosing whether the patient is likely to be experiencing the
medical condition, such as querying the patient through an external
device regarding symptoms the patient is experiencing and analyzing the
patient's responses to the questions to determine whether the patient is
experiencing the medical condition. When diagnosis is still unclear,
additional holistic diagnostic procedures can be performed virtually
until diagnosis is certain.