Reducing CPR artefacts in ventricular fibrillation in vitro.
CPR creates artefacts on the ECG, and a pause in CPR is therefore mandatory during rhythm analysis. This hands-off interval is harmful to the already marginally circulated tissues during CPR, and if the artefacts could be removed by filtering, the rhythm could be analyzed during ongoing CPR. Fixed coefficient filters used in animals cannot solve this problem in humans, due to overlapping frequency spectra for artefacts and VF signals. In the present study, we established a method for mixing CPR-artefacts (noise) from a pig with human VF (signal) at various signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) from -10 dB to +10 dB. We then developed a new methodology for removing CPR artefacts by applying a digital adaptive filter, and compared the results with this filter to that of a fixed coefficient filter. The results with the adaptive filter clearly outperformed the fixed coefficient filter for all SNR levels. At an original SNR of 0 dB, the restored SNRs were 9.0+/-0.7 dB versus 0.9+/-0.7 dB respectively (P<0.0001).
Institute for Experimental Medical Research, Ulleval University Hospital, N-0407 Oslo, Norway. audun.langhelle@ioks.uio.no
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Langhelle
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Eftestøl
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Myklebust
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Eriksen
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Holten
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Steen
D000818:Animals; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013552:Swine; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*