Computer Based RR-Interval Detection System with Ectopy Correction in HRV Data

Heartbeat rhythm contains information related to many physiological factors. The interbeat interval or the RR-Interval and its variability can be effectively used to understand the relation between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. As the duration between two consecutive heart beats (RR-Interval) changes from beat to beat it represents a time series. It contains many indicators representing diseases, there are reports that this can be used to predict expected cardiac disease well in advance. We designed, developed and constructed heartbeat detection and RR-Interval data acquisition system to measure and store HRV data. This data is prone to several types of noise that comes in the way of drawing diagnostic conclusions from data, for this reason, the external noise including ectopic beats is removed from data for reliable results. The role of ectopic beat removal is examined using a Poincare map and Fourier Transform. Typical data collected is presented and analyzed to demonstrate the role of ectopic beat removal.