An SCP compatible 12-lead electrocardiogram database for signal transmission, storage, and analysis

12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most important noninvasive and low-cost diagnostic examinations in clinical practice. However, different manufactory proprietary forms obstacle electronic ECG data transmission and data exchange. The primary objective of this study was to develop an inter-hospital Web-based 12-lead ECG database server for ECG record exchange and analysis in the local area of Miao-Li County in Taiwan. The server was developed using software such as PHP, MySQL, and Matlab for SCP compatible format ECG record file transmission, format conversion, record storage, and signal analysis. In the past year, our efforts resulted in the collection of more than three thousands complete 12-lead SCP-ECG files. The results indicated that (1) SCP format compatible ECG record files can be exchanged and can be converted into ASCII and XML formats through the established server; (2) authorized end users can browse the database and analyze ECG signals by Matlab signal processing related toolboxes. In conclusion, the established ECG database server can provide effective medical informatics services such as online ECG pattern recognition and diagnosis for clinical physicians and ECG signal processing for researchers. In the future, our work may include other medical signals such as holter ECG and exercise ECG. More efforts will also extend to establish a countrywide inter-hospital medical signal database.