Novel methods of faster cardiovascular diagnosis in wireless telecardiology

  • Authors:

  • Fahim Sufi;Qiang Fang;Ibrahim Khalil;Seedahmed S. Mahmoud

  • Affiliations:

  • Science, Engineering & Technology Portfolio, RMIT University, VIC, Australia and Health Informatics division of McPherson Scientific;School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;School of Computer Science and IT, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;Future Fibre Technologies, Mulgrave, VIC, Australia

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications - Special issue on wireless and pervasive communications for healthcare
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

With the rapid development wireless technologies, mobile phones are gaining acceptance to become an effective tool for cardiovascular monitoring. However, existing technologies have limitations in terms of efficient transmission of compressed ECG over text messaging communications like SMS and MMS. In this paper, we first propose an ECG compression algorithm which allows lossless transmission of compressed ECG over bandwidth constrained wireless link. Then, we propose several algorithms for cardiovascular abnormality detection directly from the compressed ECG maintaining end to end security, patient privacy while offering the benefits of faster diagnosis. Next, we show that our mobile phone based cardiovascular monitoring solution is capable of harnessing up to 6.72 times faster diagnosis compared to existing technologies. As the decompression time on a doctor's mobile phone could be significant, our method will be highly advantageous in patient wellness monitoring system where a doctor has to read and diagnose from compressed ECGs of several patients assigned to him. Finally, we successfully implemented the prototype system by establishing mobile phone based cardiovascular patient monitoring.