Creighton University Ventricular Tachyarrhythmia Database

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This database is described in

Nolle FM, Badura FK, Catlett JM, Bowser RW, Sketch MH. CREI-GARD, a new concept in computerized arrhythmia monitoring systems. Computers in Cardiology 13:515-518 (1986).

Please cite this publication when referencing this material, and also include the standard citation for PhysioNet:

Goldberger AL, Amaral LAN, Glass L, Hausdorff JM, Ivanov PCh, Mark RG, Mietus JE, Moody GB, Peng C-K, Stanley HE. PhysioBank, PhysioToolkit, and PhysioNet: Components of a New Research Resource for Complex Physiologic Signals. Circulation 101(23):e215-e220 [Circulation Electronic Pages; http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/101/23/e215.full]; 2000 (June 13).
[sample ecg recording]

This database includes 35 eight-minute ECG recordings of human subjects who experienced episodes of sustained ventricular tachycardia, ventricular flutter, and ventricular fibrillation.

Record cu01 was obtained from a long-term ECG (Holter) recording (played back at real time for digitization); the other records were digitized in real time from high-level (1 V/mV nominal) analog signals from patient monitors. All signals were passed through an active second-order Bessel low-pass filter with a cutoff of 70 Hz, and were digitized at 250 Hz with 12-bit resolution over a 10 V range (10 mV nominal relative to the unamplified signals). Each record contains 127,232 samples (slightly less than 8.5 minutes).

In episodes of cardiac failure, fibrillation is almost always preceded by a run of ventricular tachycardia, which eventually gives way to the fibrillation itself. The onset of fibrillation is extremely difficult to pinpoint in many cases. Any clinically useful detector should respond to the runs of tachycardia preceding fibrillation, since medical intervention is needed at the earliest opportunity. Thus any detector responding to the premonitory tachycardia can exhibit a negative “time to alarm” compared to the onset of fibrillation as recorded in the reference annotation files. For this reason, the database is defined as a tachyarrhythmia database rather than a fibrillation database.

In these records, the minimum number of non-VF beats prior to the onset of a VF episode is 61. The mean time interval from the beginning of the record to the onset of VF is 5:47 (with a standard deviation of 2:01). Five records (cu12, cu15, cu24, cu25, and cu32) were from paced patients (in some cases, pacing artifacts are not visible, and pacing is apparent only from the regularity of the rhythm). Repeated defibrillation attempts are visible in many records.

The recordings were originally collected by Floyd M. Nolle at the Creighton University Cardiac Center. High-quality recordings of these rhythms are extremely rare, and of great importance both for development and evaluation of VF detectors and for basic research on the dynamics of VF. We wish to thank Richard W. Bowser, formerly of the Creighton University Cardiac Center, for preserving these recordings, for making them available for distribution in this format, and for preparing the preceding notes on this database.

The reference annotation files supplied for this database have been included to aid users in locating events of interest. They are in no sense definitive. All beats are labelled normal (although many are ectopic). VF onset annotations mark only the approximate beginnings of VF episodes.

The reference annotation files for records cu01, cu03, and cu12 were updated in January 2006 to include previously missing ventricular fibrillation onset and end annotations (thanks to Janusz Irzyk for reporting these missing). The previous versions of these three files remain available here for comparison (cu01.atr-, cu03.atr-, and cu12.atr-).

Icon  Name                    Last modified      Size  Description
[DIR] Parent Directory                             -   
[TXT] local.css               28-Oct-2015 22:53  3.1K  
[   ] DOI                     21-Sep-2015 19:00   19   
[   ] cu35.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   58   header file
[   ] cu34.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu33.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   58   header file
[   ] cu32.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu31.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu30.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu29.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu28.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu27.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   60   header file
[   ] cu26.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu25.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu24.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu23.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu22.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu21.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   60   header file
[   ] cu20.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu19.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu18.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu17.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu16.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   58   header file
[   ] cu15.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu14.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu13.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu12.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu11.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu10.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu09.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   58   header file
[   ] cu08.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   58   header file
[   ] cu07.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu06.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   58   header file
[   ] cu05.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu04.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   57   header file
[   ] cu03.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   58   header file
[   ] cu02.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   59   header file
[   ] cu01.hea                06-Apr-2008 00:05   60   header file
[   ] SHA256SUMS              18-Sep-2007 18:37   11K  
[   ] SHA1SUMS                31-Jan-2006 16:31  7.5K  
[   ] MD5SUMS                 31-Jan-2006 16:31  6.3K  
[   ] cu12.atr                31-Jan-2006 16:12  834   reference annotations
[   ] cu03.atr                31-Jan-2006 16:06  1.9K  reference annotations
[   ] cu01.atr                31-Jan-2006 16:03  426   reference annotations
[   ] cu19.atr                26-Feb-2003 18:36  1.4K  reference annotations
[   ] cu05.atr                26-Feb-2003 18:26  1.4K  reference annotations
[   ] cu21.atr                24-Feb-2003 18:00  1.3K  reference annotations
[   ] ANNOTATORS              14-Oct-2000 04:40   44   list of annotators
[   ] RECORDS                 29-Mar-2000 17:02  175   list of record names
[XWS] cu35.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu34.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu33.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu32.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu31.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu30.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu29.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu28.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu27.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu26.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu25.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu24.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu23.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu22.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu21.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu20.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu19.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu18.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu17.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu16.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu15.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu14.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu13.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu12.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu11.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu10.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu09.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu08.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu07.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu06.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu05.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu04.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu03.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu02.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[XWS] cu01.xws                12-Dec-1999 23:00   82   WAVEScript
[   ] cu35.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   76   header file
[   ] cu35.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu35.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  806   reference annotations
[   ] cu34.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu34.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu34.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  534   reference annotations
[   ] cu33.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   76   header file
[   ] cu33.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu33.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.1K  reference annotations
[   ] cu32.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu32.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu32.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.5K  reference annotations
[   ] cu31.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu31.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu31.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  604   reference annotations
[   ] cu30.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu30.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu30.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  304   reference annotations
[   ] cu29.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu29.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu29.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.1K  reference annotations
[   ] cu28.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu28.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu28.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  778   reference annotations
[   ] cu27.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   78   header file
[   ] cu27.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu27.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  2.1K  reference annotations
[   ] cu26.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu26.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu26.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.6K  reference annotations
[   ] cu25.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu25.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu25.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.1K  reference annotations
[   ] cu24.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu24.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu24.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.0K  reference annotations
[   ] cu23.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu23.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu23.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  906   reference annotations
[   ] cu22.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu22.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu22.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  904   reference annotations
[   ] cu21.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   78   header file
[   ] cu21.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu21.atr-               30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.3K  previous version of reference annotations (obsolete)
[   ] cu20.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu20.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu20.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  418   reference annotations
[   ] cu19.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu19.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu19.atr-               30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.4K  previous version of reference annotations (obsolete)
[   ] cu18.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu18.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu18.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.4K  reference annotations
[   ] cu17.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu17.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu17.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.1K  reference annotations
[   ] cu16.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   76   header file
[   ] cu16.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu16.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.7K  reference annotations
[   ] cu15.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu15.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu15.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  570   reference annotations
[   ] cu14.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu14.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu14.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.1K  reference annotations
[   ] cu13.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu13.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu13.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.7K  reference annotations
[   ] cu12.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu12.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu12.atr-               30-Jul-1992 05:38  824   previous version of reference annotations (obsolete)
[   ] cu11.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu11.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu11.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.0K  reference annotations
[   ] cu10.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu10.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu10.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.1K  reference annotations
[   ] cu09.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   76   header file
[   ] cu09.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu09.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.8K  reference annotations
[   ] cu08.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   76   header file
[   ] cu08.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu08.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  2.5K  reference annotations
[   ] cu07.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu07.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu07.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  762   reference annotations
[   ] cu06.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   76   header file
[   ] cu06.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu06.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  926   reference annotations
[   ] cu05.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu05.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu05.atr-               30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.4K  previous version of reference annotations (obsolete)
[   ] cu04.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   75   header file
[   ] cu04.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu04.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  530   reference annotations
[   ] cu03.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   76   header file
[   ] cu03.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu03.atr-               30-Jul-1992 05:38  1.9K  previous version of reference annotations (obsolete)
[   ] cu02.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   77   header file
[   ] cu02.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu02.atr                30-Jul-1992 05:38  2.0K  reference annotations
[   ] cu01.hea-               30-Jul-1992 05:38   78   header file
[   ] cu01.dat                30-Jul-1992 05:38  186K  digitized signal(s)
[   ] cu01.atr-               30-Jul-1992 05:23  416   previous version of reference annotations (obsolete)

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