Computer-aided diagnosis of cardiovascular disorders.

Abstract Some of the current and possible future applications of computers in medicine have been discussed with respect to diagnosis, ECG analysis, and early detection of disease. In diagnosis, the computer is seen as playing a role analogous to a special consultant analyzing patient data in terms of a broad base of recorded past experience, providing the physician probabilistic estimates of diagnosis and of prognosis. It seems likely that the physician will remain the primary source of data for the computer, although in special areas such as electrocardiography the physician may well be displaced by the computer. Two different approaches to computer analysis of electrocardiograms are discussed, and the possibility of a ‘merger’ is suggested. Finally the computer can help in early detection of disease in screening surveys by allowing more sensitive analysis of exercise cardiograms, by actually screening some data which can be obtained prior to physician evaluation, and lastly by optimizing data interpretation and strength of prediction for early disease patterns.