Prematurity and height of ventricular ectopic beats as criteria for detection in rapid Holter scanners.

Automatic ventricular ectopic beat (VEB) counters attached to rapid Holter scanners, currently available commercially, should be examined for accuracy and cost-effectiveness. The author, by using permaturity and height as criteria for detection of VEBs, found an average error of 23 percent; at times the error was higher than 50 percent. The Medical Decision Making Theory was applied in an attempt to reduce the error by more sensitive adjustment of the detectors, but this resulted in only minimal improvement. The author has concluded that automatic VEB counters using prematurity and height as detection criteria are potentially very inaccurate and, therefore, not cost-effective.