Detection of P wave in electrocardiogram

The aim of this paper is to discuss a new algorithm to detect P wave in the resting electrocardiogram (ECG). The independent ECG leads were acquired simultaneously; the sampling rate was 500 Hz. A moving average bandpass filter and a notch filter were applied to the ECG. All the QRS-T complexes were detected and removed from de original signal. A new lead was constructed as the sum of the independent lead, sample by sample. The Teager Energy Operator was applied to the new constructed lead to get an auxiliary function where high energy zones were emphasized. A threshold was computed, based on the maximum value of the auxiliary function, to identify atrial activity. When this activity was detected, the onset and offset of the atrial wave were identified in the original leads using slope criterion. The proposed algorithm was tested with 300 ECGs from adults patients; the sensitivity for P wave detection reached 96,47 %; false positive were not produce.