<TITLE>Non-Invasive Assessment of Susceptibility to
Sudden Cardiac Death</TITLE>


<P>

<H1>Non-Invasive Assessment of Susceptibility to Sudden Cardiac Death</H1>


<H3>Hello and Welcome!</H3>

<p> This page is currently under development, but stayed tuned for
more improvements.  My name is <A
href="http://www.cis.yale.edu/~xdenner/xdenner.html">Alex Denner
(denner@yale.edu)</A> and I am doing research in the prediction of
sudden cardiac death at Yale.  Also, I would like to hear from anyone
who is doing similar work or is interested in the field.  (See below.)

<p>
I am conducting research on: Non-Invasive Assessment of Susceptibility
to Sudden Cardiac Death.  This involves analyzing electrocardiograms
to determine the likelihood of future episodes of ventricular
fibrillation.  Soon I will put more information about my work here.</p>

<p> An electrocardiogram represents the electric potential, usually on
the surface of the chest, that comes from the heart muscle.  The heart
is comprised of four chambers.  Blood enters the heart into the two
atria (left and right) and goes to the two ventricles (left and
right).  The two atria contract simultaneously then, after a short
delay, the ventricular muscles contract.  On the electrocardiogram
"waves" can be seen which indicate the atrial contract, ventricular
contraction, and, since the ventricles are large muscles, often the
ventricular repolarization can be seen.  Currently, my work is
concentrating on ventricular arrythmias, specifically the most
serious, ventricular fibrillation.  Fibrillation is a state of the
heart where the ventricular muscle fibers appear to be contracting and
relaxing at random---they are not acting synchronously.  During
fibrillation no blood is pumped by the heart. </p>

<P>
<A HREF="ecg.ps">This is an electrocardiogram from a Holter monitor</A>
(It is a postscript file.)
</P>

<p>
I am trying to find a way to analyze the electrocardiogram to predict
the likelihood of a given patient having an episode of ventricular
fibrillation sometime in the future.  One of my favored techniques
is wavelet analysis which allows the frequency content of the signal to
be distinguished spatially. </p>



<hr>

<H2>To Those Interested in Cardiology/Sudden Cardiac Death/VF:</H2>

I would like to get together a mailing list or group of people who are
interested in issues related to ventricular arrhythmias and/or ECG
signal analysis.  Email me at denner@yale.edu or use my <a
href="user_input.html">email reply form</a>.  Also, if you are just
browsing this page or my other WWW pages, let me know what you think!



<hr>

<H2>Here are some interesting sites for cardiology:</H2>

<UL> 
<LI> <A href="gopher://info.med.yale.edu/11/Disciplines/Discipline/Cardiology">Yale Cardiology Gopher</A>

<LI> <A href="gopher://ruralnet.mu.wvnet.edu/11u:/dept/cardio">Cardiology</A>

<LI> <A href="http://galaxy.einet.net/galaxy/Medicine/Medical-Specialties/Cardiology.html">Cardiology at EINet</A>

<LI> <A href="gopher://sunserv0.cae.wisc.edu/11/ece/biomed/signals">ECG Signals gopher</A>

<li><a href="http://osler.wustl.edu/~murphy/cardiology/compass.html">Cardiology Compass</a>


<li> <a href="http://wailer.uokhsc.edu/index.html">OUHSC Cardiac Arrhythmia Demo</a>

</UL>

Here are some other general
<A href="medicine.html">medicine</a>-related sites.

<p>
<hr>
<P>
<ADDRESS><A href="http://www.cis.yale.edu/~xdenner/xdenner.html">Alex Denner  (denner@yale.edu)</A></ADDRESS>
