ANALYSIS OF THE ONSET AND TERMINATION OF REPEATED PATTERN VENTRICULARARRHYTHMIAS

A group of algorithms has been developed to investigate the characteri stics of beat-to-beat intervals preceding and following the onset and termination of repeated pattern ventricular arrhythmias (RPVA) such as bigeminy and trigeminy. Eighty-five patients, each with more than 300 0 ventricular ectopic beats in a 24-hour Holter recording and with mor e than 10 episodes of RPVA, were evaluated, A statistically significan t prolongation of sinus intervals preceding the onset of bigeminy and trigeminy and shortening of postectopic intervals after the onset were observed. In addition, shortening of postectopic intervals before the termination of bigeminy and trigeminy and lengthening of sinus interv als following their termination were also seen. A significant presence of these characteristics was not observed in arrhythmias with a great er number of sinus beats between ectopic beats. These dynamics provide information which may be utilized in the assessment of mechanisms inv olved in the onset and termination Of RPVA. (C) 1997 Academic Press.