Scaling characteristics of heart rate time series before the onset ofventricular tachycardia.
Baumert,M; Wessel,N; Schirdewan,A; Voss,A; Abbott,D
Abstract Ventricular tachycardia (VT) provokes sudden cardiac death (SCD), which is amajor cause of mortality in developed countries. Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) arean efficient therapy for SCD prevention. In this study we analyze heart rate variability (HRV) indata stored by ICDs. In 29 patients exhibiting VT episodes, the last 1000 normal beat-to-beatintervals are analyzed and compared to an individually acquired control time series (CON). HRVanalysis is performed with standard parameters of time and frequency domain as suggested by the HRVTask Force. For scaling analyses of heart rate time series, the fractal dimension is analysed,applying Higuchi’’s algorithm (HFD). Furthermore, detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) is performed.None of the standard HRV parameters shows significant differences between CON and VT. Before theonset of VT, the scaling characteristics by means of HFD and DFA are significantly changed.Inconclusion, scaling analysis reveals changes in autonomic heart rate modulation preceding VT.
Keywords Algorithms; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; Electrocardiography; Heart Failure,Congestive
Annals of Biomedical Engineering
0090-6964, Volume 35, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 3-207
