System and method for displaying an emulated surface ekg using an external programming device

Abstract

A surface electrocardiogram (EKG) is emulated using signals detected by the internal leads of an implanted device. In one example, the emulation is performed using a technique that concatenates portions of signals sensed using different electrodes. In another example, the emulation is performed using a technique that selectively amplifies or attenuates portions of a single cardiac signal sensed using a single pair of electrodes. The surface EKG emulation may be performed by the implanted device itself or by an external device, such as a programmer, based on cardiac signals transmitted thereto. The external device then displays the emulated surface EKG along with an intracardiac electrogram (IEGM) and set of event markers. Alternatively, the external device displays an entire set of emulated EKGs that had been generated based on the same patient input data but using different emulation techniques. The emulated EKGs are displayed along with an actual surface EKG for the patient so that a physician may easily identify the optimal emulation technique for that patient.