Instrumentation for autonomic evaluation in a neurocardiology laboratory

Neurocardiology laboratories must have means to quantify and characterize neurally mediated cardiovascular responses. Specific instrumentation is needed to acquire and analyze the appropriate set of cardiorEspiratory signals, and to obtain from them autonomic information. A complete instrumentation scheme for autonomic nervous system evaluation, according to its effects on heart rate, myocardial contractility and atrio-ventricular conduction delay is presented. Autonomic indexes of these effects are calculated for each beat from three signals, simultaneously acquired: the electrocardiogram (ECG), the impedance cardiogram (ICG) and the esophageal electrocardiogram (EECG). Time series of the P-P, P-K and peak ejection velocity variability are provided, The system has been tested in a neurocardiology laboratory and used so far in more than 20 subjects