On deriving the electrocardiogram from vectoradiographic leads.

The issue of whether a traditional or scientifically based system for applying electrodes to the body for routine electrocardiography may be resolved by deriving the 12-lead ECG from the Frank XYZ signals. The result, the ECGD, is sufficiently close to the ECG for serial comparisons to be valid. Reducing data acquisition to the XYZ signals alone has several technical advantages. These have been realized with the introduction of a computer system employing the ECGD at a large general hospital. Plotting the lead vectors of the ECGD on Aitoff's projection of the sphere brings out important relationships between the leads, one to another, and to the spatial directions of the QRS and T vectors. Reversing the polarity of a VR enhances the sequential relationship between the limb leads; this is taken advantage of in an educational display generated by the computer.