Showing posts with label electrocardiogram. Show all posts
Electrocardiogram Signals | ECG Analysis
Electrocardiogram signals can be recorded
from humans or animals wirelessly or via tethered amplifiers(BioNomadix). Analyzing changes
in ECG rhythms can provide valuable insight into stress, arousal, and exercise
research. Automated ECG Analysis
packages are available that provide a wide variety of automated ECG analysis
options. To examine changes in the physical ECG complex during experimental protocols the Locate ECG Complex boundaries routine will locate and score the different parts of the ECG complex (P, Q, R, S, T intervals). The routine can be tailored for human or animal ECG recordings. For human signals, the automated ECG complex boundaries routine can also measure and extract the ECG interval information to a spreadsheet file or text file. Another automated ECG analysis routine will help the user classify heartbeats as normal, PVC, or unknown. This provides a quick automated analysis tool to identify and mark irregular heartbeats.
Additional automated ECG analysis tools are
also available to examine respiratory sinus arrhythmia, determine beat-by-beat
heart rate, and more.
AcqKnowledge Electrocardiogram(ECG) Routines
What is an ECG?
An ECG - or electrocardiogram – is a common test used to gauge heart health. It monitors the electrical activity of the heart, which can indicate problems related to heart rate and valve health. Other reasons an ECG may be performed are to:
- Check how the heart responds to exercise (as with a classic treadmill test)
- See if the walls of the heart chambers are hypertrophied
- Discover the cause of specific symptoms of heart disease
- An ECG calculates a wide range of valuable data valuable including:
- Heart Rate
- Heart Rhythm
- Evidence of previous heart attacks
- Possibility of coronary artery disease
- Signs of decreased oxygen to the heart
The main types of ECG are:
Cardiac stress test - this one is recorded while the subject is active, usually walking on a treadmill or riding on an exercise bike. The typical time for this test is 15-30 minutes.
Ambulatory - This ECG test is done using a transportable recording device, often called a data logger, that is worn for 24 hours or more, with the subject free to move around in a normal fashion. This type of test is typically used to study infrequent symptoms that might not show up in a resting ECG test. The subject is usually asked to keep track of his/her own symptoms in a journal of some kind, keeping track of the time of each symptom to be later compared to the results of the ECG test.
Resting - This is the most common ECG test and is taken while the subject is lying down for usually 5-10 minutes. Subjects are instructed to keep as still as possible to avoid other muscle activity interfering with the activity of the heart.
Some possible limitations of an ECG test include:
Some irregularity surfacing through the test are false positives, often times not having any medical importance after further assessment is done.
The test can also show up negative for subjects with some form of heart disease including diagnosed coronary artery disease.
BIOPAC's ECG data acquisition software
AcqKnowledge includes the following automated ECG routines, as well as numerous other automated analysis routines and transformation tools:
Locate Human ECG Complex Boundaries
Heart Rate Variability
Personalize your package with specialized amplifiers, leads, electrodes, and/or transducers. Have the ability to record the max of 16 channels of high-fidelity ECG and additional physiological data either wirelessly with BioNomadix or via standard wired amplifiers.
Contact BIOPAC today for more information.