A method and system for predicting the onset of heart arrhythmias more accurately observes trends in abnormal or pathologic morphology of the electrocardiogram (ECG). A first set of ECG signals is monitored from a patient. A baseline measurement is generated from the monitored first set of ECG signals to contain nonpathologic ECG morphologies in each lead. A second set of ECG signals is monitored from the patient and the baseline measurement is subtracted from the second set of ECG signals on a beat-to-beat basis. Afterwards, a residuum signal is generated for each lead based on the subtraction. R-wave heterogeneity, T-wave heterogeneity, P-wave heterogeneity, or ST-segment heterogeneity or other indicators of arrhythmia risk or myocardial ischemia are quantified based on the generated residuum signals.
