Title: Enhanced T wave alternans detection by instantaneous heart rate estimation

Authors: Chuqi Zhan; Kui Xiang; Shenpei Zhou

Addresses: School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, China ' School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, China ' School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, China

Abstract: T Wave Alternans (TWA) detection and its corresponding beats alignment are often confined by Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Two estimation methods of Instantaneous Heart Rate (IHR) were proposed to support a resampling operation of ECG signals. The resampled signals filtered the effect of HRV from TWA detection. Synthesised data and real ECG data were provided to test the resampling operation. The invalid beats in synthesised data vanished after resampling only with the absolute IHR estimation, and those in real ECG data reduced from 59.3% to 31.3% if the resampling with relative IHR was used. The results proved that the resampling operation could significantly improve the beats alignment and enhance TWA detection. In results analysis, the implications and applications, advantages and limits were discussed on resampling and IHR estimation methods.

Keywords: T wave alternans; heart rate variability; heart beat alignment; heart beats; signal resampling; instantaneous heart rate; electrocardiography; ECG signals.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2014.060992

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2014 Vol.15 No.1, pp.69 - 81

Received: 12 Dec 2013
Accepted: 04 Apr 2014
Published online: 21 Oct 2014 *

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