Measuring Temporal Complexity of Ventricular Fibrillation

Z. Temporal complexity of early ventricular fibrillation VF is re-assessed through measuring the correlation dimension Z. D , entropy K and high-dimensional component s from electrocardiogram ECG recordings using the Gaussian kernel 22 algorithm. Seven representative ECG traces of induced VF among 53 pig subjects are selected for analysis. VF is found to have 80--90% low-dimensional deterministic dynamics with D varying around 5 and 10--20% high-dimensional extents. 2 q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 05.45.Tp; 87.19.Hh; 05.45.Ac; 02.50.-r 1. Introduction Z. Ventricular fibrillation VF is the commonest mode of sudden death among patients with cardio- wx vascular disease in the industrial world 1 . VF is characterized on the ECG by irregular fibrillatory waves with no discernible QRS complexes. Clinically, there is no cardiac output and death follows unless resuscitation is started rapidly. In view of the importance of VF, considerable effort has been made to ..