Statistical variations of heart orientation in healthy adults

摘要

The orientation of the heart in the chest impacts the shape and amplitude of surface ECG signals. It is also key information in electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI), where a model of the heart and torso is required. In this study we seek to analyze statistical relations between heart orientation and several easily available patient characteristics. Heart orientation data were obtained from an MRI database of 185 healthy adults. Relations with sex, height, weight (collected from case reports forms) and chest circumference (extracted from the images) were analyzed using univariate and multivariate linear regression. Chest circumference was found to be the best single predictor of heart orientation, and simple formulas were determined for its estimation. The proposed heart orientation statistical model might be used for selecting a torso/heart model from an existing database; this approach might allow ECGI techniques to be integrated into an ECG device.