14th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS"
OF ARRHYTHMIAS 2000

Jan. 29 - Feb. 5, 2000
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

RT-212

New algorithm for T wave alternans analysis in Holter recordings

Xavier Vinolas, Salvador Olmos**, Jose L. Alonso, Pere Caminal*, Pablo Laguna**, AntonioBayés de Luna.
Cardiology Department, Hospital Sant Pau, Barcelona, *Centre de Recerca Bioengenieria, Universitat Barcelona, **Facultad Ingenieria, Universidad Zaragoza, Spain

Introduction

T wave alternans (TWA) in standard 12 leads ECG is a well known risk stratification parameter. “Microvolt” T wave alternans has been recently possible to detect and is being described as a good arrhythmic risk stratification parameter by several authors^3-9. Actually the term T wave alternans is used to describe the “real” alternans of T wave and also the alternans of the whole repolarisation period^1,2. The actual systems to detect T wave alternans use atrial pacing or exercise test to increase the heart rate and therefore increase the level of T wave alternans. All systems show the limitation of the analysis in a moment, and do not allow the analysis of dynamic behaviour of TWA. We will present the preliminary data on a new algorythm allowing TWA analysis in Holter tapes.

Key Words