Windows software for cardiac electrophysiology studies and ablation monitoring

A system for cardiac electrophysiology (EP) studies consisting of a Windows software package, a standard 120 MHz Pentium PC with a high-performance vi deo card and a data acquisition card has been developed during this study. The system is capable of real time data acquisition and storage of 24 chann els with simultaneous display of 1-16 arbitrarily chosen channels at a samp ling rate of 500 Hz. It can be used clinically in electrophysiology studies and during catheter radio-frequency ablation treatment for monitoring the ablation and its effects. The built-in ablation monitoring capability enabl es combined EP study and ablation treatment, thus helping to reduce exposur e times and the total time needed per patient. For clinical use the softwar e includes versatile tools for data analysis and reduction. Our system has been developed in association with Department of Cardiology of Tampere Univ ersity Hospital and has been in regular clinical use there. (C) 2000 Elsevi er Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.