SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR WAVEFORM MORPHOLOGY COMPARISON

A ventricular tachycardia (VT) complex is distinguished from a sinus tachycardia or a supraventricular tachycardia. A template based on morphology of a normal sinus rhythm is collected. A test signal is compared against the template to determine how closely the test and template signals correspond based on morphology. The comparison is done based on peak information in the template and the test signal. A score is generated to indicate the degree of similarity between the template and the test signal. The peak information is extracted as follows. First, a group of three consecutive peaks having a largest cumulative peak amplitude is located in the template and in the test signal. The polarity, position and area of each peak within the group is then determined. The area of each peak is normalized. The polarities, positions and normalized areas represent the peak information that is used for comparison.