An ECG translator for the EPD-CAR project

Electronic Patient File for Cardiology (EPD-CAR) is a project of the Interuniversity Cardiology Institute of the Netherlands. Herein the departments of Cardiology of the eight University Hospitals in the Netherlands work together on coupling hospitals with cardiac information systems including solutions for cardiac signals and equipment In the first stage of this project, an inquiry was performed into the various ECG formats applied in the eight hospitals involved, into the platforms on which ECGs must be viewed and into the standard format in which they will be presented. Results of this study were used to define the demands of a translator for resting ECGs as part of the EPD-CAR project. The translator which has been conceived, is a 'black box' in which diagnostic ECGs (12 leads, 10 seconds, 500 Hz) of four vendors: Cardio Control, Marquette, Mortara and Siemens, are translated into a standard format.