Classification of Cardiac Beats Using Discrete Wavelet Features

With the growing technology, the tools which continuously monitor the health status of the people are becoming the integral part of our lives. The detection of a cardiac disease or tracking the heart activities for ongoing cardiac conditions is now possible with portable electrocardiography (ECG) monitors. For detection and classification of ECG signals in portable devices, the robust features and efficient classification algorithms are very important. Thus, in this study, a robust feature set based on discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is proposed, and the performance of the classification tools such as artificial neural networks, support vector machines and probabilistic neural networks are compared. After preprocessing, the R peaks are located by the well-known Pan Tompkins algorithm and 200 samples are taken as equivalent R-T interval in the proposed technique. The statistical parameters such as mean, median, standard deviation, maximum, minimum, energy and entropy of DWT coefficients are used as the feature set. The proposed hybrid technique has been tested by classifying three ECG beats as normal, right bundle branch block (Rbbb) and paced beat using the signals from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Beth Israel Hospital (MIT-BIH) arrhythmia database and processed using Matlab 2013 environment. The best accuracy of 99.84% has been obtained by Db4 mother wavelet with artificial neural network as classifier

Improving ECG Classification Accuracy Using an Ensemble of Neural Network Modules

This paper illustrates the use of a combined neural network model based on Stacked Generalization method for classification of electrocardiogram (ECG) beats. In conventional Stacked Generalization method, the combiner learns to map the base classifiers' outputs to the target data. We claim adding the input pattern to the base classifiers' outputs helps the combiner to obtain knowledge about the input space and as the result, performs better on the same task. Experimental results support our claim that the additional knowledge according to the input space, improves the performance of the proposed method which is called Modified Stacked Generalization. In particular, for classification of 14966 ECG beats that were not previously seen during training phase, the Modified Stacked Generalization method reduced the error rate for 12.41% in comparison with the best of ten popular classifier fusion methods including Max, Min, Average, Product, Majority Voting, Borda Count, Decision Templates, Weighted Averaging based on Particle Swarm Optimization and Stacked Generalization

A Review of Atrial Fibrillation Detection Methods as a Service

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is a common heart arrhythmia that often goes undetected, and even if it is detected, managing the condition may be challenging. In this paper, we review how the RR interval and Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals, incorporated into a monitoring system, can be useful to track AF events. Were such an automated system to be implemented, it could be used to help manage AF and thereby reduce patient morbidity and mortality. The main impetus behind the idea of developing a service is that a greater data volume analyzed can lead to better patient outcomes. Based on the literature review, which we present herein, we introduce the methods that can be used to detect AF efficiently and automatically via the RR interval and ECG signals. A cardiovascular disease monitoring service that incorporates one or multiple of these detection methods could extend event observation to all times, and could therefore become useful to establish any AF occurrence. The development of an automated and efficient method that monitors AF in real time would likely become a key component for meeting public health goals regarding the reduction of fatalities caused by the disease. Yet, at present, significant technological and regulatory obstacles remain, which prevent the development of any proposed system. Establishment of the scientific foundation for monitoring is important to provide effective service to patients and healthcare professionals

ECG ARRHYTHMIA TIME SERIES CLASSIFICATION USING 1D-CONVOLUTION LSTM NEURAL NETWORKS

An electrocardiogram (ECG) can be dependably used as a measuring device to monitor cardiovascular function. The abnormal heartbeat appears in the ECG pattern and these abnormal signals are called arrhythmias. A faster and more accurate result can be reached by classifying and automatically detecting arrhythmia signals. Several machine learning approaches have been applied to enhance the accuracy of results and increase the speed and robustness of models. This research proposes a method based on Timeseries Classification using deep Convolutional -LSTM neural networks and Discrete Wavelet Transform to classify beats in three experiments, the first one is to classify 4 different types of Arrhythmia in the MIT-BIH Database. The second one for enhancement the first experimental results. The third one is for classifying the whole MIT-BIH database. According to the results, the suggested method gives predictions with an average accuracy of 97% in the first experiment, 99% in the second one, and 97.7% in the third experiment,without overfitting

Computationally Efficient QRS Detection Analysis In Electrocardiogram Based On Dual-Slope Method

A dramatic growth of interest for wearable technology has been fostered by recent technological advances in sensors, low-power integrated circuits and wireless communications. This interest originates from the need of monitoring a patient over extensive period of time. For cardiac patients, wearable heart monitoring sensors have already become a life-saving intervention ensuring continuous monitoring during daily life. Therefore, it is essential for an accurate monitoring and diagnosis of heart patients. Patients can be equipped with wireless, miniature and lightweight sensors. The sensors temporarily store physiological data and then periodically upload the data to a database server. These recorded data sets are then analyzed to predict any possibility of worsening patient\u27s situation or explored to assess the effect of clinical intervention. To obtain accurate response with less computational complexity as well as long battery life time, there is a demand of developing fast and accurate algorithm and prototypes for wearable heart monitoring sensors. A computationally efficient QRS detection algorithm is indispensable for low power operation on electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. In need of detecting QRS complex, most of the early works were proposed based on derivatives of ECG signal. They can be easily implemented with high computational speed. But owing to the inherent variability in ECG, these methods are highly affected by large derivatives of baseline noises. Algorithms based on neural network (NN) showed relatively robust performance against noise but requires exhaustive training and estimation of model parameter. On the other hand, wavelet based methods have the choice problem of mother wavelet. Hence, none of these methods is suitable for giving a long battery performance in wearable devices with high accuracy. Recently, Wang et al. proposed a novel dual slope QRS detection algorithm which has less computational complexity as well as high accuracy. Considering that the width of the QRS complex is relatively fixed, this algorithm is based on the fact that the largest change of slope usually happens at the peak of QRS complex. The hardware requirement is also low. However, the method has a set of time consuming slope calculations on both sides of each sample. To avoid such time consuming slope calculation, only one sample on each side can be highlighted. In addition, the multiplication of the left and right hand side slope should give us a very high value in QRS complex. The goal of this thesis is to develop a new computationally efficient method to detect QRS complexes and compare with the other renowned QRS detection algorithms. MIT-BIH arrhythmia database based on patients of different heart diseases and database containing ECG from healthy subjects are used. To analyze the performance, false negative (FN) and false positive (FP) are evaluated. A false negative (FN) occurs when algorithm fails to detect an actual QRS complex quoted in the corresponding annotation file of the database record and a false positive (FP) means a false beat detection. Error rate (ER) , Sensitivity (Se) and Specificity (Sp) are calculated using FP and FN

Exploring ECG Signal Analysis Techniques for Arrhythmia Detection: A Review

The heart holds paramount importance in the human body as it serves the crucial function of supplying blood and nutrients to various organs. Thus, maintaining its health is imperative. Arrhythmia, a heart disorder, arises when the heart's rhythm becomes irregular. Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals are commonly utilized for analyzing arrhythmia due to their simplicity and cost-effectiveness. The peaks observed in ECG graphs, particularly the R peak, are indicative of heart conditions, facilitating arrhythmia diagnosis. Arrhythmia is broadly categorized into Tachycardia and Bradycardia for identification purposes. This paper explores diverse techniques such as Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Neural Network (NN) classifiers, as well as Wavelet and Time–Frequency Transform (TQWT), which have been employed over the past decade for arrhythmia detection using various datasets. The study delves into the analysis of arrhythmia classification on ECG datasets, highlighting the effectiveness of data preprocessing, feature extraction, and classification techniques in achieving superior performance in classifying ECG signals for arrhythmia detection

Non-linear dynamical analysis of biosignals

Biosignals are physiological signals that are recorded from various parts of the body. Some of the major biosignals are electromyograms (EMG), electroencephalograms (EEG) and electrocardiograms (ECG). These signals are of great clinical and diagnostic importance, and are analysed to understand their behaviour and to extract maximum information from them. However, they tend to be random and unpredictable in nature (non-linear). Conventional linear methods of analysis are insufficient. Hence, analysis using non-linear and dynamical system theory, chaos theory and fractal dimensions, is proving to be very beneficial. In this project, ECG signals are of interest. Changes in the normal rhythm of a human heart may result in different cardiac arrhythmias, which may be fatal or cause irreparable damage to the heart when sustained over long periods of time. Hence the ability to identify arrhythmias from ECG recordings is of importance for clinical diagnosis and treatment and also for understanding the electrophysiological mechanism of arrhythmias. To achieve this aim, algorithms were developed with the help of MATLAB® software. The classical logic of correlation was used in the development of algorithms to place signals into the various categories of cardiac arrhythmias. A sample set of 35 known ECG signals were obtained from the Physionet website for testing purposes. Later, 5 unknown ECG signals were used to determine the efficiency of the algorithms. A peak detection algorithm was written to detect the QRS complex. This complex is the most prominent waveform within an ECG signal and its shape, duration and time of occurrence provides valuable information about the current state of the heart. The peak detection algorithm gave excellent results with very good accuracy for all the downloaded ECG signals, and was developed using classical linear techniques. Later, a peak detection algorithm using the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) was implemented. This code was developed using nonlinear techniques and was amenable for implementation. Also, the time required for execution was reduced, making this code ideal for real-time processing. Finally, algorithms were developed to calculate the Kolmogorov complexity and Lyapunov exponent, which are nonlinear descriptors and enable the randomness and chaotic nature of ECG signals to be estimated. These measures of randomness and chaotic nature enable us to apply correct interrogative methods to the signal to extract maximum information. The codes developed gave fair results. It was possible to differentiate between normal ECGs and ECGs with ventricular fibrillation. The results show that the Kolmogorov complexity measure increases with an increase in pathology, approximately 12.90 for normal ECGs and increasing to 13.87 to 14.39 for ECGs with ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Similar results were obtained for Lyapunov exponent measures with a notable difference between normal ECG (0 – 0.0095) and ECG with ventricular fibrillation (0.1114 – 0.1799). However, it was difficult to differentiate between different types of arrhythmias.Biosignals are physiological signals that are recorded from various parts of the body. Some of the major biosignals are electromyograms (EMG), electroencephalograms (EEG) and electrocardiograms (ECG). These signals are of great clinical and diagnostic importance, and are analysed to understand their behaviour and to extract maximum information from them. However, they tend to be random and unpredictable in nature (non-linear). Conventional linear methods of analysis are insufficient. Hence, analysis using non-linear and dynamical system theory, chaos theory and fractal dimensions, is proving to be very beneficial. In this project, ECG signals are of interest. Changes in the normal rhythm of a human heart may result in different cardiac arrhythmias, which may be fatal or cause irreparable damage to the heart when sustained over long periods of time. Hence the ability to identify arrhythmias from ECG recordings is of importance for clinical diagnosis and treatment and also for understanding the electrophysiological mechanism of arrhythmias. To achieve this aim, algorithms were developed with the help of MATLAB® software. The classical logic of correlation was used in the development of algorithms to place signals into the various categories of cardiac arrhythmias. A sample set of 35 known ECG signals were obtained from the Physionet website for testing purposes. Later, 5 unknown ECG signals were used to determine the efficiency of the algorithms. A peak detection algorithm was written to detect the QRS complex. This complex is the most prominent waveform within an ECG signal and its shape, duration and time of occurrence provides valuable information about the current state of the heart. The peak detection algorithm gave excellent results with very good accuracy for all the downloaded ECG signals, and was developed using classical linear techniques. Later, a peak detection algorithm using the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) was implemented. This code was developed using nonlinear techniques and was amenable for implementation. Also, the time required for execution was reduced, making this code ideal for real-time processing. Finally, algorithms were developed to calculate the Kolmogorov complexity and Lyapunov exponent, which are nonlinear descriptors and enable the randomness and chaotic nature of ECG signals to be estimated. These measures of randomness and chaotic nature enable us to apply correct interrogative methods to the signal to extract maximum information. The codes developed gave fair results. It was possible to differentiate between normal ECGs and ECGs with ventricular fibrillation. The results show that the Kolmogorov complexity measure increases with an increase in pathology, approximately 12.90 for normal ECGs and increasing to 13.87 to 14.39 for ECGs with ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Similar results were obtained for Lyapunov exponent measures with a notable difference between normal ECG (0 – 0.0095) and ECG with ventricular fibrillation (0.1114 – 0.1799). However, it was difficult to differentiate between different types of arrhythmias

Deep Learning in Cardiology

The medical field is creating large amount of data that physicians are unable to decipher and use efficiently. Moreover, rule-based expert systems are inefficient in solving complicated medical tasks or for creating insights using big data. Deep learning has emerged as a more accurate and effective technology in a wide range of medical problems such as diagnosis, prediction and intervention. Deep learning is a representation learning method that consists of layers that transform the data non-linearly, thus, revealing hierarchical relationships and structures. In this review we survey deep learning application papers that use structured data, signal and imaging modalities from cardiology. We discuss the advantages and limitations of applying deep learning in cardiology that also apply in medicine in general, while proposing certain directions as the most viable for clinical use.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figures, 10 table