Method and system for detection of cardiac arrhythmia

A system for detecting cardiac arrhythmia comprising:

• a RR interval detecting monitor detecting RR intervals of a patient, wherein each RR interval is an interval between two heart beats;
• a standard ΔRR histogram storage unit in which are stored standard histograms of ΔRRs collected during cardiac arrhythmia of a plurality of subjects, wherein each ΔRR is a difference between two successive RR intervals;
• a test ΔRR histogram calculator supplied with the detected RR intervals from the monitor and constructing test histograms of said ΔRRs of said patient, wherein the standard and test histograms are probability density histograms;
• a calculator of a mean value of a given number of successive RR intervals of the patient;
• a selector of one of the standard probability density histograms in relation to said mean value, wherein the selector of one of the standard probability density histograms comprises means for selecting the standard histogram corresponding to the range of RR intervals in which said mean value is located;
• and
• a standard and test ΔRR histograms comparator supplied with said standard and test histograms, said comparator comprising a detector of cardiac arrhythmia of the patient responsive to the comparison of said standard and test histograms.

An apparatus, comprising:

• means for detecting RR intervals of a patient, wherein each RR interval is an interval between two heart beats;
• means for constructing standard histograms of ΔRRs collected during cardiac arrhythmia of a plurality of subjects, wherein each ΔRR is a difference between two successive RR intervals;
• means for constructing test histograms of ΔRRs of the patient from the detected RR intervals of said patient, wherein the standard and test histograms are probability density histograms;
• means for calculating a mean value of a given number of successive RR intervals of the patient and for choosing one of the standard probability density histograms in relation to said mean value, wherein the means for choosing one of the standard probability density histograms comprises means for selecting the standard histogram corresponding to the range of RR intervals in which said mean value is located;
• and
• means for comparing said standard and test histograms to detect whether said patient suffers from cardiac arrhthymia.

A computer readable medium encoded with executable instructions for performing a method, comprising:

• instructions for detecting RR intervals of a patient, wherein each RR interval is an interval between two heart beats;
• instructions for constructing standard histograms of ΔRRs collected during cardiac arrhythmia of a plurality of subjects, wherein each ΔRR is a difference between two successive RR intervals;
• instructions for constructing test histograms of ΔRRs of the patient from the detected RR intervals of said patient, wherein the standard and test histograms are probability density histograms;
• instructions for calculating a mean value of a given number of successive RR intervals of the patient and for choosing one of the standard probability density histograms in relation to said mean value, wherein the instructions for choosing one of the standard probability density histograms comprises instructions for selecting the standard histogram corresponding to the range of RR intervals in which said mean value is located;
• and
• instructions for comparing said standard and test histograms to detect whether said patient suffers from cardiac arrhthymia.