TY - JOUR A1 - Wessel, Niels A1 - Voss, Andreas A1 - Malberg, Hagen A1 - Ziehmann, Christine A1 - Voss, Henning U. A1 - Schirdewan, Alexander A1 - Meyerfeldt, Udo A1 - Kurths, Jürgen T1 - Nonlinear analysis of complex phenomena in cardiological data N2 - The main intention of this contribution is to discuss different nonlinear approaches to heart rate and blood pressure variability analysis for a better understanding of the cardiovascular regulation. We investigate measures of complexity which are based on symbolic dynamics, renormalised entropy and the finite time growth rates. The dual sequence method to estimate the baroreflex sensitivity and the maximal correlation method to estimate the nonlinear coupling between time series are employed for analysing bivariate data. The latter appears to be a suitable method to estimate the strength of the nonlinear coupling and the coupling direction. Heart rate and blood pressure data from clinical pilot studies and from very large clinical studies are analysed. We demonstrate that parameters from nonlinear dynamics are useful for risk stratification after myocardial infarction, for the prediction of life-threatening cardiac events even in short time series, and for modelling the relationship between heart rate and blood pressure regulation. These findings could be of importance for clinical diagnostics, in algorithms for risk stratification, and for therapeutic and preventive tools of next generation implantable cardioverter defibrillators. Y1 - 2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wessel, Niels A1 - Ziehmann, Christine A1 - Kurths, Jürgen A1 - Meyerfeldt, Udo A1 - Schirdewan, Alexander A1 - Voss, Andreas T1 - Short-term forecasting of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias based on symbolic dynamics and finite-time growth rates N2 - Ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation (VT-VF) as fatal cardiac arrhythmias are the main factors triggering sudden cardiac death. The objective of this study is to find early signs of sustained VT-VF in patients with an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). These devices are able to safeguard patients by returning their hearts to a normal rhythm via strong defibrillatory shocks; additionally, they store the 1000 beat-to-beat intervals immediately before the onset of a life-threatening arrhythmia. We study these 1000 beat-to-beat intervals of 17 chronic heart failure ICD patients before the onset of a life-threatening arrhythmia and at a control time, i.e., without a VT-VF event. To characterize these rather short data sets, we calculate heart rate variability parameters from the time and frequency domain, from symbolic dynamics as well as the finite-time growth rates. We find that neither the time nor the frequency domain parameters show significant differences between the VT-VF and the control time series. However, two parameters from symbolic dynamics as well as the finite-time growth rates discriminate significantly both groups. These findings could be of importance in algorithms for next generation ICD's to improve the diagnostics and therapy of VT-VF. Y1 - 2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wessel, Niels A1 - Marwan, Norbert A1 - Meyerfeldt, Udo A1 - Schirdewan, Alexander A1 - Kurths, Jürgen T1 - Recurrence quantification analysis to characterise the heart rate variability before the onset of ventricular tachycardia N2 - Ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation (VT) as fatal cardiac arrhythmias are the main factors triggering sudden cardiac death. The objective of this recurrence quantification analysis approach is to find early signs of sustained VT in patients with an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). These devices are able to safeguard patients by returning their hearts to a normal rhythm via strong defibrillatory shocks; additionally, they are able to store at least 1000 beat-to-beat intervals immediately before the onset of a life-threatening arrhythmia. We study the Y1 - 2001 UR - http://link.springer.de/link/service/series/0558/bibs/2199/21990295.htm ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marwan, Norbert A1 - Wessel, Niels A1 - Meyerfeldt, Udo A1 - Schirdewan, Alexander A1 - Kurths, Jürgen T1 - Recurrence-plot-based measures of complexity and its application to heart-rate-variability data N2 - The knowledge of transitions between regular, laminar or chaotic behavior is essential to understand the underlying mechanisms behind complex systems. While several linear approaches are often insufficient to describe such processes, there are several nonlinear methods which however require rather long time observations. To overcome these difficulties, we propose measures of complexity based on vertical structures in recurrence plots and apply them to the logistic map as well as to heart rate variability data. For the logistic map these measures enable us not only to detect transitions between chaotic and periodic states, but also to identify laminar states, i.e. chaos-chaos transitions. The traditional recurrence quantification analysis fails to detect the latter transitions. Applying our new measures to the heart rate variability data, we are able to detect and quantify the laminar phases before a life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia occurs thereby facilitating a prediction of such an event. Our findings could be of importance for the therapy of malignant cardiac arrhythmias. Y1 - 2002 UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0201064 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baumert, M. A1 - Baier, V. A1 - Haueisen, J. A1 - Wessel, Niels A1 - Meyerfeldt, Udo A1 - Schirdewan, Alexander A1 - Voss, Andreas T1 - Forecasting of life threatening arrhythmias using the compression entropy of heart rate N2 - Objectives. Ventricular tachycardia (VT) provoking sudden cardiac death (SCD) are a major cause of mortality in the developed countries. The most efficient therapy for SCID prevention are implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD). In this study heart rate variability (HRV) measures were analyzed for short-term forecasting of VT in order to improve VT sensing and to enable a patient warning of forthcoming shocks. Methods. The lost 1000 normal beat-to-beat intervals before 50 VT episodes stored by the ICD were analyzed and compared to individually acquire control time series (CON). HRV analysis was performed with standard parameters of time and frequency domain as suggested by the HRV Task Force and furthermore with a newly developed and optimized nonlinear parameter that assesses the compression entropy of heart rate (H-c). Results. Except of meanNN (p = 0.02) we found no significant differences in standard HRV parameters. In contrast, H, revealed highly significant (p = 0.007) alterations in VT compared with CON suggesting a decreased complexity before the onset of VT. Conclusion: Compression entropy might be a suitable parameter for short-term forecasting of life-threatening tachycardia in ICD Y1 - 2004 SN - 0026-1270 ER -