Optimising solid state Holter systems

Compared with the use of the tape, solid-state technology offers substantial benefits to Holter ECG monitoring. However, the relatively high cost of memory necessitates the use of data-compression techniques, and the extent and significance of associated distortion is not widely understood. The authors present and interpret the results achievable with known standard algorithms running in the Oxford Medilog 6000FD, a commercially available solid-state Holter recorder. They demonstrate that the Oxford algorithm maintains visual acceptability up to compression ratios of about seven to one, whereas the appearance of the reconstruction signal degenerates rapidly from nine to one upward