Time-frequency methods for high-resolution ECG analysis

Spectro-temporal methods of high resolution ECG analysis based on fast Fourier transform, autoregressive estimation and wavelet transform are discussed. The sensitivities of these methods were evaluated by analysis of 80 patients after myocardial infarction-40 with sustained ventricular tachycardia and 40 without arrhythmia. To compare the results of all three methods quantitative parameters were calculated. The averaged values of these parameters were significantly different for patients with ventricular tachycardia compared to patients without arrhythmia. The sensitivity obtained in the authors' study by wavelet transform (61%) was lower than for Fourier transform (81%) and autoregressive (73%) methods.