Telemetric ECG diagnosis follow-up

A telemetric tool for the evaluation and re-evaluation of a series of digitized 12-lead ECG samples from an individual patient was developed. The solution involves a standard PC-based client/server concept with communication via Internet. The ECG is recorded on a commercial Web-linked PC-based device and the pre-processed data are transmitted to the server together with a set of additional information. A cross-correlation algorithm is then used to compare the ECGs to a large validated ECG database. The likelihood of diagnoses is assigned to each ECG, and changes in the ECG follow-up can be demonstrated in a comprehensive series of graphs. This new tool, by providing the total ECG history of an individual patient to any authorized health professional, improves clinical judgement, and may significantly improve cost-effectiveness in health-care practice when it becomes widely used.