Spatiotemporal QRST cancellation techniques for analysis of atrial fibrillation

A new method for QRST cancellation is presented for the analysis of atrial fibrillation in the surface electrocardiogram (ECG), The method is based on a spatiotemporal signal model which accounts for dynamic changes in QRS mo rphology caused, e.g,, by variations in the electrical axis of the heart. U sing simulated atrial fibrillation signals added to normal ECGs, the result s show that the spatiotemporal method performs considerably better than doe s straightforward average beat subtraction (ABS). In comparison to the ABS method, the average QRST-related error was reduced to 58 percent. The resul ts obtained from ECGs with atrial fibrillation agreed very well with those from simulated fibrillation signals.