On line (real time) quantitative measurement of premature ventricular beats

A real time system for graphically displaying premature ventricular beat trends is described. The system consists of analog detector circuits coupled to a Fortran based software program for premature ventricular beat processing. The software program runs four independent channels and has three available analysis modes: a "counting" mode which provides a running total of counts to date; an "averaging" mode which displays average number of events over time, and a "ratio" mode which provides an output reflecting changes in the ratio of premature ventricular beats to all beats. Various scale factors can be applied to accommodate differing background states. The system's strengths lie in its simplicity, accuracy, and simultaneous analog display of both the original ECG signal as well as the derived quantitative data.