Automated QT measurement and application to detection of moxifloxacin-induced changes

Abstract

Background: Concern for drug-induced QT prolongation has caused significant investment in QT measurement to safety-test new compounds. Manual methods are expensive and time-consuming. Reliable automatic methods would be highly desirable. Methods: Twelve-lead Holter recordings were annotated beat-to-beat by an automatic algorithm for global QRS onset and T offset. T offset was established from the time of peak T downslope plus a rate-dependent offset, analogous to the "tangent method," wherein T offset is determined by extrapolating the T downslope to an intersection with the baseline. Results and Conclusions: Variances of the beat-to-beat QT measurements were in the range 2.5-3.4 ms over three distinct databases, including a large heart failure database. Application to a moxifloxacin/placebo control database of 29 subjects showed excellent results. © 2009, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.