A System for Electrocardiographic Studies in the Community

Abstract

The proposed system is focused on the early detection and follows up of persons suffering cardiac disturbances in the community. The system is composed by a portable device for standard ECG recording, henceforth Recorder, and a desktop application, called Analyzer, to storage and study the signals acquired. The Recorder acquires and processes the standard ECG automatically, providing monitoring capabilities for emergency situations too. The patient data, the ECG and measurements are stored on the Recorder to be transmitted to the Analyzer later. The received information is stored in a database; the trend of several parameters associated with heart disease is computed for each patient. The studied parameters are: spatial dispersion of QT interval for malignant arrhythmias, the Selvester's Score for heart attacks, the Sokolow's index and Cornell's index for ventricular dilatation or hypertrophy. In an emergency situation, the ECG can be transmitted in real time to a Telecardiology system where experts analyze the incoming signal to indicate how to treat the patient. The same standard and the CSE database were used to test the ECG's processing algorithms. This approach seems a useful tool to detect cardiac disturbances in their early stages and reduce their mobility without significant costs.