Assessment of the principal components of the equivalent cardiac generator on recorded electrocardiographic potentials

The relative contribution of the various multipolar components to the total surface potential was determined in experiments on the isolated heart located in a spherical volume conductor. These contributions were calculated for distances from the electrodes to the center of the cardiac ventricles that corresponded to the placement of standard and thoracic ECG recording electrodes in different age groups. On the basis of these results the optimal model of an equivalent cardiac generator can be chosen for a given electrocardiographic recording system.