Estimation of electrocardiogram peak frequency and periodicity during ventricular fibrillation

The success of ventricular defibrillation depends on many factors, but the time elapsed from the fibrillation onset is most important. The aim of this study was to assess the ECG peak frequency and periodicity changes during ventricular fibrillation. The fibrillation signal peak frequency decreased with elapsed time in N1 = 21 of the processed signals (62%). It fluctuated over a relatively constant value in the remaining N2 = 13 cases (32%). The leakage parameter increased with time in N3 = 15 of the assessed cases (44%), decreased in N4 = 2 (10%) and fluctuated over a relatively constant value in the remaining N5 = 17 (50%). The leakage increased in 57% of N1, fluctuated over a relatively constant value in 33% of N1 and decreased in 10% of N1. In 77% of N2, the leakage also fluctuated, and in the remaining 23% of N2 it increased. Optimal timing for efficacious defibrillation shock might be looked for by methods for short-time (e.g. less than a few seconds) detection of rhythm organization.