Signal and image processing methods for studying human ventricular fibrillation

心脏是一个多功能的机电器官，由其内部自主产生的有节奏的电脉冲驱动。当心脏的发电或传导系统出现故障或病变时，心脏就会颤动，并伴有心律失常和混乱的收缩，导致重要器官的血液循环无效或停止。这种医学状况通常被称为心律失常。当这种情况发生在心室（负责排出血液的心脏下部）时，就会出现一种严重的医学病症，称为心室颤动（VF）。室性心动过速如果在发生后几分钟内得不到治疗，可导致心源性猝死（SCD）。在北美，每年约有35万例SCD报告（其中加拿大有4.5万例，即每12分钟一例SCD），其中大多数与VF有关。尽管其重要性和研究活跃了100多年，但由于过程的非平稳性和研究人类VF的伦理/实践限制，人类VF背后的机制仍然难以捉摸。

The heart is a versatile electro-mechanical organ that is driven by autonomously generated rhythmic electrical pulses within it. When the electrical generation or conduction system of the heart malfunctions or is diseased, the heart quivers with arrhythmic and chaotic contractions, resulting in ineffective or cessation of blood circulation to vital organs. This medical condition in general is termed as cardiac arrhythmia. When this happens in the ventricles (lower chambers of the heart responsible for pushing out blood), a serious medical condition called ventricular fibrillation (VF) occurs. VF, if untreated within minutes of its occurrence, leads to sudden cardiac death (SCD). Every year in North America about 350,000 SCDs (with 45,000 of them in Canada, i.e. an SCD every 12 minutes) are reported, most of which are VF related. In spite of its importance, and active research over 100 years, the mechanism behind human VF is still elusive because of the non-stationary nature of the process and ethical/practical limitations in studying human VF.