Capacitive ECG recording and beat-to-beat interval estimation after major cardiac event

Today, heart diseases are the most common cause of death in the U.S.. Due to improved healthcare, more and more patients survive a major cardiac event, e.g. a heart attack. However, participation in everyday activity (e.g. driving a car) can be impaired afterwards. Patients might benefit from heart activity monitoring while driving using a capacitive ECG (cECG). However, it is unknown whether cECG is an appropriate monitoring tool for such patients. In this work, first results from a study including 10 patients having survived at least one major cardiac event are presented. It is shown that cECG can be used to diagnose heart rhythm deviations and estimate beat-to-beat intervals similar to conventional ECG.