Towards intelligent and mobile systems for early detection and interpretation of cardiological syndromes

Because of a continuously growing elderly population, the number of heart attacks is steadily increasing. Most victims do not survive long enough to receive medical help. The only useful early decision-making support tool is the electrocardiogram (ECG). The solution proposed by the European EPI-MEDICS (Enhanced, Personal, Intelligent and Mobile system for Early Detection and Interpretation of Cardiological Syndromes) project consists in developing a very affordable, easy-to-use but powerful, embedded personal ECG monitor (PEM) for the early detection and prevention of cardiac events. The PEM device records, stores and synthesises standard 12-lead ECGs, generates different levels of alarms and forwards the alarm messages with the recorded signals to the relevant healthcare providers by means of new-generation wireless communication techniques. In this paper, we briefly describe the different use cases of the PEM and propose a global telemedical architecture for the follow-up of ambulatory patients. The paper also reports about the ins and outs of the project and the results which have been reached so far.