Relation among power spectrum, refractory period and conduction time during ventricular fibrillation

Taking into account that the ECG power spectrum provides information about certain intrinsic electrophysiologic parameters of the heart, the authors designed a set of experiments, using 18 mongrel dogs, to study the relationship of the refractory period (RP) and the conduction time (CT) to the power spectrum, under different experimental conditions. The results show that the power spectrum behaves as a new biometrical parameter. A definitive correlation of RP and CT with the main frequency of the power spectrum appears in the multifactorial study. The analysis of variance shows that both RP and CT have a significant influence on the frequency. The nonsignificant interaction between the two variables proves the independent effect on ventricular fibrillation that each one exerts