Ectopic beats detection and correction methods: A review

Abstract The present paper is concerned with a review and evaluation of different methods that are intended to detect and correct ectopic beats. Ectopic beats are abnormal beats that are due to unusual impulses. These abnormal excitations originate from atrio-ventricular junction or ventricles rather than the sino-atrial node. Ectopic beats can be seen in the ECG signal as abnormal waveforms. Their presence can extremely affect the heart rate variability (HRV) measures as they cause ambiguities. Thus, they must be detected and corrected before any HRV signal analysis. Indeed, ectopic beats have a remarkable influence on the time domain, frequency domain and nonlinear domain measurements of the HRV. In fact, too many efforts have been devoted to detect and correct the ectopic beats presence leading to the development of many methods and algorithms. In this article, we shed light on the different methods existing in the research domain literature; that are intended to be used in ectopic beats detection and correction. First, the different methods used in the ectopic beat detection are reviewed. Then, those dedicated to correct their presence are discussed. Finally, the effect of ectopic beats and the ectopic beat correction methods on the HRV signal parameters are highlighted.