Multifractal properties of the heart rate dynamics during acute myocardial ischemia

The purpose of this study was to assess the dynamics of the heart rate during myocardial ischemia produced by long PTCA procedures using multifractal signal properties. We found significant complex reactions due to the effects of coronary occlusion on the autonomic control of the cardiac rhythm which suggests that the multifractal indices may be a promising non-linear technique to evaluate the autonomous nervous system response in presence of transient myocardial ischemia.