Smart devices for the early detection and interpretation of cardiological syndromes

In western countries, heart disease is the main cause of premature death. Most of victims do not survive long enough to benefit from in-hospital treatments. To reduce the time before treatment, the only useful diagnostic tool to assess the presence of a cardiac event in the pre-hospital care situations is the electrocardiogram (ECG). Event and transtelephonic ECG recorders are being used to improve decision-making but require setting up new infrastructures. The pervasive solution proposed by the European EPI-MEDICS project is a wearable, intelligent Personal ECG Monitor for the early detection of cardiac events. It records pseudo-orthogonal 3-lead ECGs from an easy-to-wear 4-electrode sub-system embedding professional recording and processing capabilities, includes part of the patient electronic health record (EHR), embeds a web server and powerful soft computing decision-making techniques, generates different alarm levels and forwards alarm messages to the relevant care providers by means of new generation wireless communication. It is cost saving, involving care providers only if necessary, without requiring to set-up specific infrastructures. Healthcare becomes personalized, wearable and ubiquitous.