Effects of lead spatial resolution on the spectrum of cardiac signals: a simulation study

Spectral analysis is widely applied to bioelectric cardiac signals for quantifying the spatiotemporal organization of cardiac tissue. Nevertheless, to date it is not well understood how lead characteristics affect the spectrum of recorded cardiac signals and, as a consequence, the interpretation of cardiac spectrum is still controversial. In this paper we use simulation methods to investigate the effects of lead spatial resolution on the spectrum of cardiac signals. We simulate three cardiac rhythms of different degrees of spatiotemporal organization in a square sample of cardiac tissue. Then, by using a lead field approach, we synthesize the signals recorded by four idealized leads of different spatial resolution. Finally, we estimate the spectrum of simulated cardiac signals. Our simulations indicate that lead spatial resolution affects cardiac spectrum, although the effects depend on the organization of the underlying rhythm. Specifically, our simulations show that for highly organized rhythms, the smaller the lead resolution region, the broader the distribution of power in frequency. Since lead resolution can affect significantly cardiac spectrum, we conclude that caution should be used when quantifying cardiac spatiotemporal organization based on the spectrum of cardiac signals.