Evolution of an automated ST-segment analysis program for dynamic real-time, noninvasive detection of coronary occlusion and reperfusion.

Patients in whom early and stable reperfusion through the infarct artery fails after thrombolytic treatment might benefit from further revascularization therapy. A reliable noninvasive technique able to detect both reperfusion and reocclusion would be useful to test this hypothesis. However, no such technique presently exists. ST-segment recovery analysis using continuous digital 12-lead ST monitoring has been shown to be an accurate predictor of infarct artery patency in real time. This method was dependent on a trained clinician's analysis of the recordings on a personal computer. For optimal bedside application, salient principles of this ST-segment recovery analysis were converted into algorithms and built into the ST monitor software. The essentials of these algorithms are described in this report.

Duke Scholars

Author Robert M. Califf Medicine, Cardiology

Author Mitchell Wolfe Krucoff Medicine, Cardiology