Project

The goal of ANS Lab Tools project is to share sofwares devoted to the study of electrophysiological variables under control of the autonomic nervous system, such as heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance, ventilation or pupil size. At the moment, two softwares are proposed: HRVanalysis devoted to the analysis of Heart Rate Variability, and, CVRanalysis which anables to analyse cardio-vascular and respiratory interactions.

HRVanalysis software has been used and improved for over 20 years and, thus, designed to meet laboratory requirements. Its main strength is its wide application scope. It allows calculating autonomic sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems indices using heart rate variability analysis methods, from the widest used to the more sophisticated.

HRVanalysis calculates most of the linear and nonlinear indices validated in the litterature : temporal, geometrical, frequencial, Fourier transform of the increment of RR intervals, Poincaré plot, empirical mode decomposition, moments, largest Lyapunov exponent, entropy, symbolic dynamics, fractals, acceleration and deceleration capacities, turbulence. In addition, the software allows time-frequency analysis using wavelet transform as well as analysis of autonomic nervous system status on surrounding scored events and on preselected labeled areas. Moreover, the interface is designed for easy study of large cohorts, including batch mode signal processing to avoid running repetitive operations.

HRVanalysis supports data arizing from cardiofrequencemeter, ECG-Holter, or data acquisition system (EDF, ISHNE, Binary, ...). The software includes various RR preprocessing functions such as RR correction, RR exclusion, user-entered areas of interest and events, HRV parameters preferences, etc...

CVRanalysis has been developed to analyse cardiac, vascular and respiratory interactions, typically arising from RR, blood pressure and respiratory signals.

CVRanalysis allows the calculation of heart rate variability which provides an evaluation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, blood pressure variability which is mainly linked to sympathetic modulation and myogenic vascular function, baroreflex sensitivity, and, time-frequency analyses to identify fast modifications of autonomic activity, as well as, more recent analyses such as temporal and frequencial Granger causality for calculating the bidirectional causal links between each considered signal, thus, allowing the scrutiny of many physiological regulatory mechanisms.

CVRanalysis can managed beat-to-beat pre-processed data (R-R, systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure, respiration) or raw data (EKG, continuous blood pressure and respiratory waveforms). Several tools for beat detection and correction, setting of specific areas or events are included in the software. Then, in addition to the wide possibility of analyses cited above, the interface is also designed for easy study of large cohorts, including batch mode signal processing to avoid running repetitive operations. Results are displayed as figures or saved in text files directly employable in statistical softwares.

HRVanalysis and CVRanalysis can be downloaded free of charge for none commercial use only. The softwares were developed using MATLAB® 2016a. They work on Windows 64-bit operating systems and it is not necessary to have MATLAB® installed on the computer. When using HRVanalysis or CVRanalysis to analyze data meant for publication, please cite the software reference article  and download website in the methods section.