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Biomedical subjects

F W Keller

Publications and source records attributed to F W Keller.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

A microprocessor controlled timing device for cardiac electrical stimulation.

A microcomputer controlled device for delivering precisely timed stimuli to cardiac chambers is described. Stimulation patterns are determined by software, rather than hardware design, resulting in enhanced flexibility. Additionally, by providing timing inputs to conventional laboratory stimulators, this instrument can convert these limited use devices into ones capable of generating complex cardiac stimulation patterns at moderate cost.

Cardiac Pacing, Artificial

A system oriented electrocardiographic amplifier.

A low noise, programmable gain amplifier has been developed for acquiring ECG data from a variety of recording environments. Features include: low noise (4muV peak-to-peak) differential inputs; digitally programmable gains (range 100 to 16000) and output DC offsets (range -3.5 to +4 V) controlled via a serial interface; externally selectable low frequency response (0.04 or 0.08 Hz); and an on-board output monitor multiplexer controlled via a second serial interface.

Amplifiers, Electronic

The electrocardiographic image surface revisited.

An image torso may be viewed as a one-to-one transform of a physical volume conductor to a geometric form which defines both the axis and sensitivity of any electrocardiographic connection. In this report, the image surfaces of laminar, spherical, rectangular and humanoid physical torsos are explored theoretically and experimentally. All proved to be rounded or spherical in form despite the marked differences in the configuration of the physical conductor. Moderate degrees of dipole eccentricity induced only small departures from this basic circular pattern. Introduction of phase inhomogeneity, however, resulted in more striking deviations from roundness.

Animals

Left precordial isopotential mapping during supine exercise.

Junctional depression is often observed during physical exercise in overtly normal subjects. To explore its pathogenesis, 15 normal volunteers were studied during supine, bicycle ergometer, submaximal stress tests. Electrocardiograms were simultaneously recorded from 42 electrodes on the left anterior precordium at two minute intervals at rest and during exercise. Data were used to construct isopotential maps throughout the P-QRS-T intervals. At rest, maps throughout the ST segment were dominated by a single maximum along the upper left sternal border. During exercise, all subjects developed junctional depression that was maximal along the lower left sternal border. Exercise maps during the early to mid-ST segment showed an intense minimum along the lower left sternal border that was continuous with terminal QRS forces in both intensity and location. Later in ST, this minimum decreased in strength and was replaced by a maximum located in the same area as that observed at rest. These observations suggest that junctional depression is the result of competition between two effects, one being normal repolarization which is obscured in the early ST segment by the second, possibly representing delayed terminal depolarization forces.

Action Potentials

Relative dipolar behavior of the equivalent T wave generator: quantitative comparison with ventricular excitation in the rabbit heart.

We studied the relative dipolar and nondipolar content of signal energy throughout ventricular excitation and recovery in 34 isolated, perfused rabbit hearts, suspended in an electrolyte-filled spherical chamber. Computer-processed signals were derived from 20 evenly spaced tank-surface electrodes, and a single, moving, equivalent cardiac dipole generator was optimally fitted to the recorded potentials for each 1-msec sampling interval. Superimposed, time-based plots of signal energy for the 34 preparations showed ventricular excitation to be strikingly more nondipolar than was recovery. In terms of the summed square ratio of nondipolar residual energies, overall nondipolarity of QRS exceed that of ST-T by 41%. Furthermore, the maximum instantaneous ratio during QRS was considerably greater than during the ST-T. Evaluation of paired differences, comparing nondipolar behavior throughout QRS with all of ST-T, proved highly significant (P less than .005). We also found that in contrast to the considerable mobility exhibited by the equivalent QRS dipole, the ST-T dipole locus remained nearly stationary during most of ventricular recovery. Presumably because repolarization is temporally and spatially a relatively diffuse process, it may generate electrical fields which are notably more dipolar than those caused by depolarization.

Animals

Detection and localization of multiple epicardial electrical generators by a two-dipole ranging technique.

The ability of a numerical procedure to detect and to localize two experimentally induced, epicardial dipolar generators was tested in 24 isolated, perfused rabbit heart preparations, suspended in an electrolyte-filled spherical tank. Electrocardiograms were recorded from 32 electrodes on the surface of the test chamber before and after placement of each of two epicardial burns. The second lesion was located either 180 degrees, 90 degrees, or 45 degrees from the first. Signals were processed by iterative routines that computed the location of one or two independent dipoles that best reconstruced the observed surface potentials. The computed single dipole acounting for 99.68% of root mean sequare (RMS) surface potential recorded after the first burn was located 0.26 +/- 0.10 cm from the centroid of the lesion. Potentials recorded after the second lesions were fit with two dipoles that accounted for 99.36 +/- 1.51% of RMS surface potentials and that were located 0.42 +/- 0.26 cm and 0.57 +/- 0.49 cm from the centers of the corresponding burn. Seventy-one percent of computed dipoles were located within the visible perimeter of the burn. Thus, two simultaneously active dipolar sources can be detected and accurately localized by rigorous study of the generated electrical field.

Animals

Localization of heart vectors produced by epicardial burns and ectopic stimuli; validation of a dipole ranging method.

Location of the equivalent cardiac dipole has been estimated but not fully verified in several laboratories. To test the accuracy of such a procedure, injury vectors were produced in 14 isolated, perfused rabbit hearts by epicardial searing. Strongly dipolar excitation fronts were produced in 6 additional hearts by left ventricular pacing. Twenty computer-processed signals, derived from surface electrodes on a spherical electrolyte-filled tank containing the test preparation, were optimally fitted with a locatable cardiac dipole that accounted for over 99% of the root-mean-square surface potential. For the 14 burns (mean radius 5.0 mm), the S-T injury dipole was located 3.4 plus or minus 0.7 (SD) mm from the burn center. For the 6 paced hearts, the dipole early in the ectopic beat was located 3.7 mm (range 2.6 to 4.6 mm) from the stimulating electrode. Phase inhomogeneities within the chamber appeared to have a small but predictable effect on dipole site determination. The study demonstrates that equivalent dipole location can be determined with acceptable accuracy from potential measurements of the external cardiac field.

Animals