Techniques for ventricular repolarization instability assessment from the ECG

Abstract

Instabilities in ventricular repolarization have been documented to be tightly linked to arrhythmia vulnera- bility. Translation of the information contained in the repolar- ization phase of the electrocardiogram (ECG) into valuable clinical decision-making tools remains challenging. This work aims at providing an overview of the last advances in the pro- posal and quantification of ECG-derived indices that describe repolarization properties and whose alterations are related with threatening arrhythmogenic conditions. A review of the state of the art is provided, spanning from the electrophysio- logical basis of ventricular repolarization to its characteriza- tion on the surface ECG through a set of temporal and spatial risk markers