System for Continuous cardiac pathology detection and characterization

A system for heart performance characterization and abnormality detection, comprising:

• an interface for receiving sampled data representing frequency content of an electrical signal indicating electrical activity of a patient heart over at least one heart beat cycle;
• a signal processor for calculating,
• a first signal characteristic value comprising a first fractal dimension value derived from said sampled data over at least a portion of a heart beat cycle,
• a second signal characteristic value representing a computed derivative of said first fractal dimension value and
• a ratio of the first and second signal characteristic values;
• a comparator for comparing the calculated ratio with a threshold value to provide a comparison indicator;
• and
• a patient monitor for in response to said comparison indicator indicating the calculated signal characteristic value exceeds the threshold value, generating an alert message associated with the threshold.

A system for heart performance characterization and abnormality detection, comprising:

• an interface for receiving sampled data representing composite time and frequency content of an electrical signal indicating electrical activity of a patient heart over at least one heart beat cycle;
• a signal processor for calculating,
• a first signal characteristic value comprising a first fractal dimension value derived from said sampled data over at least a portion of a heart beat cycle,
• a second signal characteristic value representing a computed derivative of said first fractal dimension value and
• a ratio of the first and second signal characteristic values;
• a comparator for comparing the calculated ratio with a threshold value to provide a comparison indicator;
• and
• a patient monitor for in response to said comparison indicator indicating the calculated signal characteristic value exceeds the threshold value, generating an alert message associated with the threshold.

A method for heart performance characterization and abnormality detection, comprising the activities of:

• receiving sampled data representing an electrical signal indicating electrical activity of a patient heart over at least one heart beat cycle;
• calculating,
• a first signal characteristic value comprising a first fractal dimension value derived from said sampled data over at least a portion of a heart beat cycle,
• a second signal characteristic value representing a computed derivative of said first fractal dimension value and
• a ratio of the first and second signal characteristic values;
• comparing the calculated ratio with a threshold value to provide a comparison indicator;
• and
• in response to said comparison indicator indicating the calculated signal characteristic value exceeds the threshold value, generating an alert message associated with the threshold.