Detection of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia from the surface lead electrocardiogram

Summary form only given. A problem arising in the coronary care unit is the need for reliable and fast detection of ventricular tachycardia (CT) and ventricular fibrillation/flutter (VF). The lack or near lack of an isoelectric episode makes the delineation and characterization of individual complexes difficult and error-prone. The authors extend their real-time VF-detection algorithm to include detection of VT. The criteria are slightly different from those for VF; whereas VF shows a sharp peak in the frequency spectrum, VT shows up as much less pronounced but still discernable peak. The amended algorithm has been tested using the MIT/BIH annotated arrhythmia database. Early results are promising, but improvements are necessary