The clinical application of an XML-based 12 lead ECG structure report system

The need for hospitals to develop a 12-lead ECG report system is vital. A 12-lead ECG report system should summarize cardiologists´ ECG diagnoses including waveform interpretations, treatment strategies, and disease confirmation. The major objective of this study is to develop a 12-lead ECG documentary system that can facilitate ECG waveform pattern search based on documented clinical cases and consequently enhance the accuracy of heart disease diagnoses. First, an SQL-based database is used to collect clinically-used XML 12-lead ECG files, which are processed to extract ECG waveform data. Second, an interactive ECG browser allowing online ECG waveform measurement is created by using Silverlight technology of vector-based graph visualization. Third, a tree-like XML-based document, which is based on the waveform template of DICOM structure report, is developed to record ECG waveform measurement, treatment strategies, and relative diseases. Results indicate that clinicians can greatly benefit from ECG waveform pattern search. By using this developed system, clinicians can significantly enhance their ability to find out correlations between ECG morphologies and heart diseases. Additionally, this developed ECG report system can be used to improve the 12-lead ECG e-learning in clinical ECG education.