A “SELF CORRECTING” ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC and VECTORCARDIOGRAPHIC LEAD SYSTEM

Abstract

This chapter describes a self-correcting electrocardiographic and vectorcardiographic lead system. In this system, electrodes are placed simply and conveniently with the aim of only approximating a certain lead direction; and data subsequently collected from the patient is used to correct the initial assumptions as to the direction and magnitude of the lead vectors. In evaluating the dipolar electrical activity of the heart, mathematical methods have been developed that characterize heart vectors when the lead vectors are known and arbitrary, and the lead vectors when the heart vectors are known and arbitrary. An application of these analytical solutions has been developed so that lead vectors associated with an electrocardiographic lead system could be evaluated. New lead vectors as determined by the method are subsequently used in correcting the deflections associated with the system leads. The process is iterative and should accommodate by means of arbitrary time varying lead vectors some of the causes of nondipolarity, such as varying origin of the heart vector, multiple simultaneous dipoles, inhomogenieties in the conducting tissue, and proximity effects. This is done in an empirical way, disregarding any underlying theory of such non-dipolar effects.