Impact of sampling rate reduction on automatic ECG delineation

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cardiology
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Electrogram (EGM) delineation is crucial for accurate analysis in cardiac implantable devices.
• Low sampling rates of EGMs pose a challenge for existing electrocardiogram (ECG) delineation algorithms.
• Adapting ECG delineators for EGMs requires understanding performance at reduced sampling frequencies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the performance degradation of a wavelet-based ECG delineator when subjected to stepwise reductions in sampling rate.
• To assess the feasibility of using low sampling rates for EGM delineation in pacemakers and defibrillators.

Main Methods:

• A wavelet-based ECG delineator was evaluated.
• The sampling rate of EGM signals was progressively reduced from 1 kHz.
• Performance was assessed for P wave, T wave, and QRS complex delineation at various sampling rates, including 250 Hz and 62.5 Hz.

Main Results:

• No significant performance degradation was observed for P and T wave delineation at 1 kHz sampling rates, even when reduced.
• QRS complex delineation performance was only affected at the lowest sampling rate of 62.5 Hz.
• Signals originally sampled at 250 Hz showed no degradation in delineation performance.

Conclusions:

• Automatic delineation of ECGs is reliable even at sampling rates as low as 62.5 Hz.
• Low sampling rates do not significantly compromise the reliability of automatic cardiac electrical signal delineation.
• Wavelet-based delineators show promise for EGM analysis in resource-limited implantable cardiac devices.