Signal analysis of ventricular fibrillation

Abstract

Signal analysis of electro(cardio)grams during ventricular fibrillation (VF) in dogs and human patients indicates more organization and regularity than the official WHO definition suggests. The majority of the signal is characterized by a power spectrum with narrow, equidistant peaks. In a further classification of the electrograms according to their histogram, autocorrelation function and bicoherency spectrum, VF under "normal" conditions tends to two categories: 1) damping of autocorrelation within 2 sec and symmetrical histogram without significant bicoherencies or 2) asymmetrical histogram with significant bicoherencies. VF under hypoxic conditions shows no damping of autocorrelation, high bicoherencies and flat or two-peaked histogram.