Hausdorff Distance for P wave Alignment in ECG with Intracardiac Validation

Abstract

The accurate alignment of P waves on surface electrocardiograms (ECG) is crucial to evaluating atrial electrical activity, particularly in patients with arrhythmias. This study introduces a novel P wave alignment method based on the Hausdorff distance, validated against intracardiac electrograms (EGM). The detection process incorporates a wavelet transform for QRS complex identification and dynamic pattern matching using the Hausdorff distance and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Statistical analysis was performed using F and t tests to compare variances and mean shift values between the correlation and Hausdorff distance methods over various pattern durations. The results indicated that there were no significant differences between the two methods, apart from extreme cases (the p-values of the F test ranged from 0.003 to 0.265, and the p-values of the t test ranged from 0.079 to 0.661). The findings suggest that both metrics perform similarly, offering reliable alternatives for the alignment of P waves in clinical and research applications. The proposed approach has the potential to enhance P wave detection, improving the precision of atrial signal analysis in patients with atrial arrhythmias.