Method for detection and quantification of non-invasive skin sympathetic nerve activity

Abstract

Sympathetic nerve activity is an important trigger of cardiac arrhythmia. Our laboratory recently developed a new method for non-invasive recording of the skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA) using conventional electrocardiography (ECG) patch electrodes. Recent studies showed that SKNA can adequately estimate sympathetic tone in humans. In order to improve the analysis of SKNA, we developed automatic standard assessment system based on the concept of microneurography and applied to non-invasive SKNA recording via 4 steps of signal processing. Every parameters in procedures can be manually selected by users in order to meet requirements. After using these signal processing, the results obtained by this system show improved nerve burst morphology and trend. Intuitive nerve discharge pattern and occurrence frequency can be automatically generated. Verification of the method with the cold water pressor test data further established the reliability and usefulness of the system. This new method offered a convenient tool to evaluate SKNA for comprehensive and detailed application in neurocardiology. The analysis system may facilitate the study between SKNA and cardiac arrhythmia, thus advance the field of neurocardiology research.