Nonlinear Phenomena in Complex Systems, 2010, Vol.13, No.3, pp.325-329

NONLINEAR PHENOMENA IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS
An Interdisciplinary Journal

2010, Vol.13, No.3, pp.325-329

Discrimination of Atrial Tachyarrhythmias Based on Stationary Wavelet Transform of Electrocardiogram.
M. V. Voitikova and A. P. Voitovich

The analysis of 2-leads ECG signals the may be helpful to provide additional therapies such as low energy atrial cardioversion for the treatment of atrial flutter (AFL) or atrial fibrillation (AF). Algorithms for discrimination of atrial tachyarrhythmias based on rate counting are of limited efficacy. The aim of this study was to assess the new AF/AFL and normal rhythm (N) discriminator by using stationary wavelet transform (SWT). Patients with spontaneous episodes of AF/AFL and N were studied. A total of 46 data segments of 10 - 40-second duration (AF: 26, AFL: 10, N: 10) from 9 patients were analyzed and SWT was applied. Standard deviations of the wavelet coefficients (SD) were calculated. Uniform distribution of SWT energy at each decomposition level and its SD was higher for AF than for AFL (P < 0.001). We conclude that assessment of ECG recordings using SWT is an effective method for the discrimination of AF from AFL. The implementation of this algorithm may help provide the appropriate differential therapy for atrial tachyarrhythmias.
Key words: wavelet transform, electrocardiogram, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, arrhythmia

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