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The effect of intrathoracic heart position on electrocardiogram autocorrelation
maps.
Alexandru D Corlan,
Robert S Macleod,
Luigi De Ambroggi,
J Electrocardiol 38(2):87-94, 2005
ABSTRACT
We studied the influence of the heart position in the thorax on the
autocorrelation (AC) maps consisting of correlation coefficients
between each pair of instantaneous electrocardiogram potential distributions
over a time interval. We used a thorax-shaped electrolytic-filled
tank with an isolated and perfused dog heart placed at positions
spanning 5 cm on each space direction. The correlation coefficient
between QRST AC maps was in the range of 0.92 to 0.99 whereas the
correlation coefficient between the corresponding QRST integral maps
was in the range of 0.55 to 0.87 proving that AC maps are less influenced
by the heart position than integral maps. Thus diagnostic indexes
computed from the AC maps can be expected to be more specific to
phenomena taking place in the myocardium than to criteria based directly
on electrocardiogram amplitudes in various leads.
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