HeartScope

Real-Time Analysis of the ECG

Heart-circulation-disease is a civilization disease with a high risk of fatality especially in industrial regions like Europe. At the same time, such industrialized regions exhibit frequently high unemployment patterns coupled with stress related syndromes on the persons considered which might contribute to such diseases. This is the motivation for innovative product development using national and international co-operation to overcome unemployment on the one hand and to recognize persons under increased health risk on the other. 

The real-time recognition of the electrical activities of the heart, known as the electrocardiogram (ECG), is a unique feature of the developed system which uses powerful information technologies as its technical basis for continuous monitoring of patients at risk, and recognizes critical situations in real-time with highest accuracy. In addition, state-of-the-art communication technologies are also used for the transmission of relevant data to present the risk situation of the patient to a qualified physician for making decisions. The scientific background for this work is related to the project "Methods of Nonlinear Dynamic for analysis of the ECG, for risk stratification and therapy assessment for heart patients", supported by the German Ministry of Education and Research (Grant 13N7129).

The ECG system HeartScope consists of a special amplifier system for high quality signal detection in open field conditions. A high performance multi-processor system which is capable of processing the huge amounts of data produced by a multichannel ECG record to gain information in real-time has also been developed. Algorithms for recognition of events are implemented in the first level of the multi-processor system. We use high performance image processing algorithms in the second level, interpreting the sampled values of each channel as pixels of the image, 256 up to 2.000 times per second. This new and patented method is based on information theory and describes the ECG activity as sequences of so called virtual sources in parameters of amplitude, time and space.

Fuzzy logic and methods of AI are used to define and recognise sequences of virtual sources as QRS-complexes or heart beats in real-time. The network of two or more Personal Computers (PC's) is co-ordinated through the GRID for presentation of ECG activity and controlling. These methods are integrated into the powerful graphic user interface and uses a database system. Incorporated into this user interface are state of the art algorithms from the NIMH (Washington / USA) for mappings, FFT, etc.  

With the new ECG system HeartScope the physician can recognise the electrical activity of the heart in the dynamic in time and space in real-time.

The physician can for example click on a significant ECG pattern (this makes it a further recognisable phenomena through fuzzy logic) and correlate it with his own observations. The multi-processor system recognises this ECG activity in the ongoing ECG. The marked pattern up to the heart beat can be stored in a Data Base System, can be named and used for the recognition of events the ongoing ECG. Evolutionary strategies and fuzzy logic are used for Computer Aided classification of the ECG. The physician can mark and name the recognised classes for signal recognition procedures, worked in real time.