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.