Concept for an event-triggered electrocardiographic telemetry-system using GSM for supervision of cardiac patients

Telemedicine is gaining more and more momentum as a new approach for patients´ surveillance at their home to encourage public safety. One of the most important physiological parameters to be monitored is the electrical activity of the heart. This paper presents a new microcontroller-based system, in which patients can be monitored 24 hours-a-day in nearly any environment using modern telecommunication techniques. Pathological changes are detected by an on-line feature extraction and fuzzy classification technique. The electrocardiogram (ECG) is transmitted to a call-center via a built-in GSM modem and automatically forwarded to a cardiologist for diagnosis. Also, the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) can be contacted if necessary. This permanent monitoring of cardiac patients with high quality significantly increases the patient´s safety and comfort. Additionally, only remarkable events are reported to the cardiologist, which will make diagnosis much faster available