Time-frequency structure of the high-resolution ECG.

This study considers the problem of representing high-resolution ECG (HRECG) signals in the time-frequency plane using spectrotemporal mapping (STM). High-resolution ECG signal components overlap in both time and frequency. The central issue with STM techniques is whether sufficient time-frequency resolution exists to discriminate normal and abnormal QRS signals. The trade-off between signal resolution in time and in frequency must be made without a priori knowledge of the HRECG's time-frequency structure. A simulation experiment was performed to examine the time-frequency distribution of normal, abnormal low-level (late potentials), and bundle branch block components of the QRS. Results suggest that discrimination of these signals with STM is problematic. Signals and noise within the HRECG ensemble can, however, be easily distinguished. This observation forms the basis of a new optimally filtered ensemble averaging technique for signal-to-noise ratio enhancement.

[1]  R Lazzara,et al.  An introduction to high-resolution ECG recordings of cardiac late potentials. , 1988, Archives of internal medicine.

[2]  Douglas L. Jones,et al.  A high resolution data-adaptive time-frequency representation , 1990, IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech Signal Process..

[3]  R Haberl,et al.  Spectral mapping of the electrocardiogram with Fourier transform for identification of patients with sustained ventricular tachycardia and coronary artery disease. , 1989, European heart journal.

[4]  M. Simson.  Use of Signals in the Terminal QRS Complex to Identify Patients with Ventricular Tachycardia After Myocardial Infarction , 1981, Circulation.

[5]  F. Hlawatsch,et al.  Linear and quadratic time-frequency signal representations , 1992, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine.

[6]  P Lander,et al.  Use of high-pass filtering to detect late potentials in the signal-averaged ECG. , 1989, Journal of electrocardiology.

[7]  P. Lander,et al.  Use of time-frequency representations to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of the signal-averaged ECG , 1992, Proceedings Computers in Cardiology.

[8]  E J Berbari,et al.  High-resolution electrocardiography. , 1988, Critical reviews in biomedical engineering.

[9]  P Lander,et al.  Optimal filtering and quality control of the signal-averaged ECG. High-fidelity 1-minute recordings. , 1995, Circulation.

[10]  Douglas L. Jones,et al.  Advanced time-frequency methods for signal-averaged ECG analysis. , 1992, Journal of electrocardiology.

[11]  G. Steinbeck,et al.  Top-resolution frequency analysis of electrocardiogram with adaptive frequency determination. Identification of late potentials in patients with coronary artery disease. , 1990, Circulation.

[12]  E. Caref,et al.  Spectral turbulence analysis of the signal-averaged electrocardiogram and its predictive accuracy for inducible sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia. , 1991, The American journal of cardiology.

[13]  P Lander,et al.  Spectrotemporal analysis of ventricular late potentials. , 1990, Journal of electrocardiology.