Frequency analysis of ventricular fibrillation

The aim of this study was to quantify changes in the spectrum of the electrocardiogram during the onset and early stages of ventricular fibrillation. The authors have only examined the surface electrocardiogram in a single lead, hence it is possible only to speculate on the electrical activity in the heart giving rise to these surface features. Nevertheless, these findings with others (Ideker et al., 1981; Davidenko et al., 1992; Clayton et al., 1994) suggest that the electrical activity in the heart during ventricular fibrillation is coherent and indicate that a reappraisal of this arrhythmia is needed. Signal processing techniques have been widely used in electrocardiography for signal conditioning and arrhythmia recognition. This study has shown that this approach can be used to investigate the signal characteristics of an arrhythmia, and that these characteristics when quantified can provide clinically relevant information