On the Spatial Velocity Electrocardiogram

I. Apparatus

Toyomi SANO, M.D.,* Fumio SUZUKI, M.D.,* Tadashi TAKAHASHI, M.D.,**

Masahiko FUKAMACHI, Engineer,** and Takashi FURUKAWA, Engineer**

HE concept of the spatial velocity electrocardiogram was first introduced

by Hellerstein and Hamlin in 1960. 1) It represents the spatial velocity
of the vectorcardiographic loops and is shown by an equation:

where x,y,z are components in 3 orthogonal axes of the vectorcardiogram.

They showed most of their data of dog experiments by calculating and plot-
ting, and showed one picture which was stated to be obtained by a newly
constructed analog computer. However, no further report either on this
apparatus or on its clinical application by them seems to have appeared as
yet.
The spatial velocity electrocardiogram provides an accurate information
on instantaneous changes of the velocity of the vector loops by the magnitude
of this pattern and also provides the time factor, both of which can be dis-
played only poorly by the vectorcardiogram. For instance, it is as easy as
with the electrocardiogram to measure time intervals such as PQ or RR in-
tervals and to analyze the arrhythmias. Furthermore, it can be regarded as
a kind of the first derivative electrocardiogram and there is a hope that it
can provide useful information for the clinical diagnosis from the new ex-
pression of electrical activities of the heart. Recently Pipberger 2) and Yano
and Pipberger 3) studied time-based spatial records on spatial magnitude,
orientation and velocity of the QRS complex obtained by means of digital
computation. For an analysis of all of them, digital computation is probably
more advantageous. But, taking spatial velocity alone, it is possible that
such discontinuous samplings lose important informations. From the old
experiences of vectorcardiograms we know the level of usefulness of spatial

Fromthe Institutefor Cardiovascular

Diseases,TokyoMedicaland DentalUniversity
, Tokyo,
Japan.
Fromthe MedicalElectronicsDepartment, Electronic
Application
Division,
NipponElectricCo.,
Ltd.,Tokyo,Japan.
Received
forpublication August29, 1966
.
301
302 SANO, ET AL. Jap. Heart J. M
ay, 1967

orientation and magnitude fairly well, whereas we have not been able to know
that of spatial velocity very well. It was felt that clinical evalutation on this
usefulness should be done first in a form closer to the original one. For such
a clinical purpose an apparatus employing analog circuits has been recently
developed to calculate the equation automatically, and to record it.

APPARATUS

1. Blockdiagram of the Analog Circuits

The blockdiagram of the spatial velocity electrocardiograph is shown in Fig.1.
The 3 lead electrocardiograms are obtained simultaneously with Frank's cor-
rected orthogonal lead system, 4) and are fed to the input stage through the cathode
follower circuits of the last stage of the vectorcardiograph. Then, each of them
is introduced into a differentiator and a squarer and the outputs of the 3 squarers
are then fed to an adder and the adder output is led into a square root circuit, an
invertor, a low pass filter and to the output, successively. The output of the analong
circuits is led to the input of the last stage of the ordinary electrocardiograph through
the emitter follower circuit of the analong circuits. The main parts of the spatial
velocity electrocardiograph are explained in greater detail below.

Fig.1. Blockdiagram of the spatial velocity electrocardiograph.

2. Operational Amplifier

The chopper stabilized D.C. amplifiers are used for the operational amplifiers

composing the differentiators, an adder and an invertor. The operational amplifier

is transistorized, with characteristics such as input and output impedance, open

loop gain, drift and frequency responses being made suitable for the assemblage of

the feedback system of the analog circuits for the above mentioned purpose.
3. Differentiator

There is a large difference in magnitude between the first derivative of the

QRS complex covering the higher frequency spectrum and that of the P or T wave
covering the lower frequency spectrum. Therefore, it is desirable to design to record

over at least 2 different sensitivity ranges. We have developed a design to pro-

vide several sensitivities by selecting the proper values of the time constant of the

CR circuits, as is shown in Fig.2A. Two resistors, 10KĦ and 3KĦ, are provided

in the input resistor. By combining with each of 3 capacitors in series, 6 dif-

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No.3 SPATIAL VELOCITY ECG 303

Fig.2. The characteristics of the differentiator.

A: A circuit diagram of the differentiator.
B: The frequency response.
C: The input sinusoidal wave and output signal.

Table I. The Time Constant and Cut-off Frequency of

Each Selector of the Differentiator
I. Ri•à10Kƒ¶(R, GAIN•à20db)

ferent varieties of the time constant are obtained . The time constant obtained by
the 10KĦ resistor and by the 3KĦ resistor are shown in Table I . Accordingly, the
frequency responses of a differentiator are 3 db down at 11 cycles per sec ., 66 cycles

per sec., 190 cycles per sec. for the input resistor 10KĦ and 35 cycles per sec., 220
cycles per sec., 640 cycles per sec. for the input resistor 3KĦ
, respectively. Since ad
ifferentiator exaggerates the noise factor, a filter has been devised to cut off the
higher components by placing capacitors parallel to the feedback resistance of the
 304 SANO, ET AL. J ap. Heart J.
May, 1967

operational amplifier, 100KĦ. In daily practice we obtain 2 records for e

ach
case. One is for the QRS complex, with the time constant employed in most cas
es b
eing 0.82msec. as the input time constant and 0.5msec . as the feedback time con-
stant. The other is for the T, P or other slow waves
, and the input and feedback
time constant are 15msec. and 2msec., respectively . The frequency response of the
differentiator for each selector L., M. and H in Table I is shown in Fig .2B. The
lower 2 tracings of Fig.2 show the input signal and output signal of the differe
n-
tiator, employing 15msec. as the time constant , when sinusoidal waves of 1 and 2
cycles per sec. are led in its input.

Fig.3. The characteristics of the squarer.

A: A circuit diagram of the squarer.
B: Relationship between input voltage and output voltage of the squarer
C: The input sinusoidal wave and output signal.

4. The Squarer
Circuits for obtaining the absolute values of the input signal to a squarer are
provided between the output of the differentiator and the input of the squarer. The
circuit of the polygonal function generator is used for the squarer, as is shown in
Fig.3A. This circuit has the advantage of being stable, obviating the necessity of
frequent controls against zero drift. The number of the approximation intervals is
8. The maximum of the relative error of the approximation is about 0.4per cent.
The non-linear characteristics of the diodes employed is effective in smoothing the
output polygonal curve. The relation between the input and the output voltage
of this squarer is plotted in Fig.3B. The output voltage of a squarer is reduced by
a certain ratio in order to feed a lower voltage into the input of the following adder.
Fig.3C shows the input sinusoidal wave and the output signal of a squarer. The
frequency of the output signal becomes twice that of the input signal as expected.
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No.3 SPATIAL VELOCITY ECG 305

5. The Adder

Ordinary addition circuits consisting of resistors and an operational amplifier

are employed as an adder. By placing the feedback capacitor parallel to the feed-

back resistor of the operational amplifier, frequency components higher than 800
cycles per sec. are to cut off.
6. The Square Root Circuit

Fig.4A shows the polygonal function generator used for a square root circuit.
The maximum of the relative error of the approximation from 8 approximation

intervals is about 3 per cent. Gelmanium diodes are employed for D2, D3•cD6

and a silicon diode is employed for D1 in Fig.4A. When gelmanium diodes are used
for all of the D including D1, the input-output relation is such as shown by a dotted
line in Fig.4B but by using a silicon diode as D1, as in our apparatus, the relation is

improved as is shown by the solid line in Fig.4B.

Fig.4. The characteristics of the square root circuit.

A: A circuit diagram of the square root circuit.
B: Relationship between input voltage and output voltage.
C: The input sinusoidal wave and output signal.

7. Invertor and Output Stage

For the invertor an operational amplifier is used with a gain of one . At the
next stage, a low pass filter with an attenuation pole at 1 kilocycle per sec ., which
is used in the operational amplifiers as the chopping frequency
, is provided to cut
off higher frequency components unnecessary in this analog operation . This output
is introduced into the input grid of the last stage tube of the ordinary electrocardio -
graph through the emitter follower circuit of the analog circuits and is recorded by
a direct writing method . The level of the output voltage of the last stage of the
output is about 1 volt .
306 SANO, ET AL. Jap. Heart J.
M
ay., 1967

THE OVERALLRESULTS
Each part of the analog circuits, in relation to operational characteristics
,
showed the results equal to those calculated. Furthermore , in order to test
overall results, the spatial velocity of the vector loops was calculated from the
corrected orthogonal 3 lead electrocardiogram taken simultaneously and
plotted manually. This was compared with those of the same subject obtained
by this apparatus. The middle tracing (A) of Fig.5 is the spatial velocity

Fig.5. A comparison between the spatial velocity electrocardiogram (A)

obtained by calculation and plotting manually from the corrected orthogonal
lead electrocardiogram (left tracing) and the one (B) recorded by this ap-
paratus automatically.

electrocardiogram which was calculated and plotted from the orthogonal

lead electrocardiogram (left tracings) manually, and the right tracings (B)
are those which were obtained by this apparatus. They showed a good
consistency with each other, as is seen in Fig.5. The difference, depending
upon various recorders, was also examined. As is shown in Fig.6, direct
writing records by an ordinary electrocardiograph (A) did not differ very
much from records by an electromagnetic oscillograph (B) at 50mm. per
sec. of the paper speed. Consequently, we felt that the ordinary electrocar-
diograph is adequate for recording for most clinical purposes.

CLINICAL APPLICATION

The spatial velocity electrocardiogram obtained with this apparatus

showed uniform patterns and characteristic features of each pathological
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SPATIAL VELOCITY ECG 307

Fig.6. A comparison between the spatial velocity electrocardiogram

recorded by an ordinary direct-writing electrocardiograph (A) and the one
recorded by an electromagnetic oscillograph (B) from a normal subject (the
upper two tracings) and a patient of myocardial infarction (the lower two
tracings).

Fig.7. The spatial velocity electrocardiogram and the vectorcardio-

gram of a normal subject.
The upper two tracings: spatial velocity electrocardiograms for the
QRS complex (left) and for the P and T waves (right).
The middle tracings: notation of waves of the spatial velocity elec-
trocardiogram.
The lower tracings: vectorcardiograms.
S: sagittal plane; F: frontal plane; H: horizontal plane.
308 SANO, ET AL. Jap. Heart J.
May, 1967

entity of the heart, indicating promising utility for clinical diagnosis . The

spatial velocity electrocardiogram of a normal subject for analysis of QRS

complex is shown on the top left and that for analysis of T and P on the top

right in Fig.7. This pattern was chiefly composed of 8 deflections. They

were labelled provisionally as follows: corresponding to the P wave of the

electrocardiogram, there were 2 waves, ƒÎ1 and ƒÎ2; corresponding to the QRS

complex, there were 4 spikes, ƒÌ, ƒÏ1, ƒÏ2 and ƒÐ. Two waves ƒÑ1 and ƒÑ2 cor-

responded to the T wave. The vectorcardiogram of the same subject is shown

below for reference. The result of clinical application will be reported in

our next paper.

Since the spatial velocity electrocardiogram can be regarded as a kind

of first derivative electrocardiogram, it is more advantageous in analyzing

changes of transmission of excitation in the ventricle. Interpretation of the

contour of the ST segment of the ordinary electrocardiogram would be aided

by this. Furthermore, as mentioned above, it can provide the time factor

which is the weak point of the vectorcardiogram. Therefore, it is possible

that the one lead of the spatial velocity electrocardiogram and two planes of

the vectorcardiogram can provide better diagnostic informations than the

ordinary 12 lead electrocardiorgam.

REFERENCES

1. Hellerstein, H. K. and Hamlin, R.: Am. J. Cardiol. 6: 1049, 1966.

2. Pipberger, H. V.: Circulat. Res. 11 555, 1962.
3. Yano, K. and Pipberger, H. V.: Circulation 29: 107, 1964.
4. Frank, E.: Circulation 13: 737, 1956.