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Abstract

A heart rate acceleration/deceleration detecting system particularly for use with an automatic defibrillator/cardioverter. The detection system detects a series of heart beats and determines, for a group of beats, such as on a beat-by-beat basis, whether the heart rate has accelerated above a first predetermined value. If such acceleration is determined, the system checks to see if the acceleration of the heart beats was followed by an immediate deceleration that exceeds a predetermined value. If a large acceleration followed by an absence of a large deceleration is detected, a signal is provided to an arrhythmia detecting logic circuit as an indication of an arrhythmia that may be appropriate for treatment by the defibrillator/cardioverter. The acceleration detection system is also capable of determining if a large deceleration preceded the detection of the large acceleration. If a large deceleration preceding a large acceleration had been detected, the system assumes that an AGC dropout in a rate detector circuit had occurred and will not provide an output signal to the arrhythmia detecting logic circuit. The system is also capable of detecting premature ventricular contractions by the existence of a large acceleration followed immediately by a large deceleration.

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