Computerised assessment of cardiac pacemaker performance

The design and use of a PDP 11/40 based automated on-line cardiac pacemaker assessment system is described. One program has been developed for testing pacemakers on the bench and another for implanted pacemaker tests. Either fixed rate or demand pacemakers can be tested. The on-line system is easy and fast to use and is also highly accurate. Parameters extracted are pulse width, rate and pulse energy. In addition, a graphical representation of the patient's ECG and the pacemaker pulse is obtained on a computer graphics terminal.