An implantable medical device (100) is connected to a cardiomechanic sensor (250) implanted in or in connection with a cardiac ventricle (12, 14). The sensor (250) generates a deformation signal representative of the myocardial deformation. The implantable medical device (100) processes the deformation signal by calculating the derivative thereof to generate a deformation rate signal representative of the rate of myocardial deformation. The deformation rate signal is filtered and respective maximum deformation rate values are identified for multiple cardiac cycles in the filtered deformation rate signal. A value representative of the systemic blood pressure is calculated based on a combination of the respective maximum deformation rate values.
