Diagnostic Quality-Derived Patient-Oriented Optimization of ECG Interpretation

The paper discusses various aspects of diagnostic quality estimate in an adaptive ECG interpretation system. Since the ECG interpreting software adapts to the patient status and diagnostics goal variations, the commonly used term of data quality must be revised. We propose backgrounds and demonstrate the use of a multidimensional quality hyperspace depending on the assumed system adaptability. The emerging need of appropriate reference database and standardized description of human experts behavior is also addressed here. The subset of proposed quality estimators is used as adaptivity criteria in a prototype of wireless monitoring system for cardiology. The paper concludes with guidelines for testing the processing performance and with a comparison of rigid and adaptive software features.