Geometric patterns of time-delay plots from different cardiac rhythms and arrhythmias using short-term EKG signals.

Objective: To date, no systematic work has been intended to describe spatio-temporal patterns of cardiac rhythms using only short series of RR intervals, to facilitate visual or computerized-aided identification of EKG motifs for use in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to detect and classify eye-catching geometric patterns of Poincaré time-delay plots from different types of cardiac rhythms and arrhythmias using short-term EKG signals.

Methods: Approximately 150-300 representative, consecutive beats were retrieved from 24-h Holter registers of 100 patients with different heart rhythms.