Extraction of numerical information by an algorithm, without the intervention of an operator.
Published in Chapter:
Automatic Quantification of P-Wave Morphological Features
Federica Censi (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy), Giovanni Calcagnini (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy), Eugenio Mattei (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy), Michele Triventi (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy), and Pietro Bartolini (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 7
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-889-5.ch019
Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequently occurring sustained cardiac rhythm disturbance (Wolf, Mitchell, Baker, Kannel, & D’Agostino, 1998). Although relatively easy to diagnose by analysis of the surface ECG, AF has modalities, mechanisms, and predisposing conditions that still remain poorly understood. AF is not a direct life-threatening arrhythmia. However, because of the associated strong symptomatology, it frequently results in hospitalisation, physician visits, and drug therapy, hereby limiting the physical and social activities of many patients. It not only affects the quality of life, but it also increases the likelihood of prothrombotic effects and the risk for mortality because of cerebrovascular events or progressive ventricular dysfunction (Wolf et al., 1998).