Bandpass versus high-pass filtering of signal-averaged electrocardiograms

Signal-averaged electrocardiography is a means of studying late potential presence on surface electrocardiogram recordings. The presence of this information correlates with predisposition to serious ventricular arrhythmias and risk of sudden death, and thus has enormous implications. This data has been previously obtained using a variety of filtering techniques, usually highpass or bandpass frequency filtering. The authors´ study compares time-domain late potential parameters obtained from a series of patients using both 40-Hz highpass and 40-250-Hz bandpass filters. The results indicate that the addition to a lowpass filter does not clinically alter late potential characteristics.<>