Instrumentation in Ventricular Late Potential Analysis: ECG Amplifier Performance Requirements and a Simple Design Technique

ECG recordings for Ventricular Late Potential analysis require specially designed ECG amplifiers. Design specifications used in diagnostic ECG amplifiers are not adequate enough for the former application. This paper investigates and discusses the most important ECG amplifier performance requirements, i.e., bandwidth, electronic noise, CMRR and input impedances, which under normal conditions, will allow ECG recordings of acceptable standard for Late Potential Analysis. An improved circuit configuration of the 3 op-amp instrumentation amplifier is investigated and proposed as an effective simple design technique. Also, a novel amplifier isolation technique is presented and discussed.