title: Unsupervised classification of ventricular extrasystoles using bounded clustering algorithms and morphology matching.
abstract: Ventricular extrasystoles (VE) are ectopic heartbeats involving irregularities in the heart rhythm. VEs arise in response to impulses generated in some part of the heart different from the sinoatrial node. These are caused by the premature discharge of a ventricular ectopic focus. VEs after myocardial infarction are associated with increased mortality. Screening of VEs is typically a manual and time consuming task that involves analysis of the heartbeat morphology, QRS duration, and variations of the RR intervals using long-term electrocardiograms. We describe a novel algorithm to perform automatic classification of VEs and report the results of our validation study. The proposed algorithm makes use of bounded clustering algorithms, morphology matching, and RR interval length to perform automatic VE classification without prior knowledge of the number of classes and heartbeat features. Additionally, the proposed algorithm does not need a training set.
authors.affiliation: Technological Institute of Informatics, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Campus Alcoi Plaza Ferrándiz y Carbonell 2, 03801 Alcoi, Spain. dcuesta@disca.upv.es
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cuesta-Frau
authors.forename: Marcelo O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Biagetti
authors.forename: Ricardo A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Quinteiro
authors.forename: Pau
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Micó-Tormos
authors.forename: Mateo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aboy
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018879:Ventricular Premature Complexes / Q000175:diagnosis*