Method and system for evaluating and locating cardiac ischemia

摘要

A method of assessing cardiac ischemia in a subject to provide a measure of cardiac or cardiovascular health in that subject is described herein. The method comprises the steps of: (a) collecting a first RR-interval data set from the subject during a stage of gradually increasing heart rate (e.g., a stage of gradually increasing exercise load); (b) collecting a second RR-interval data set from the subject during a stage of gradually decreasing heart rate (e.g., a stage of gradually decreasing exercise load); (c) comparing the first RR-interval data set to the second RR-interval data set to determine the difference between the data sets; and (d) generating from the comparison of step (c) a measure of cardiac ischemia during exercise in the subject. A greater difference between the first and second data sets indicates greater cardiac ischemia and lesser cardiac or cardiovascular health in the subject. The data sets are collected with a plurality of separate electrodes indicative of different regions of the heart so that the generating step can include locating the region of greatest ischemia by comparing the amount of ischemia indicated in each region.