ECG Denoising using Angular Velocity as a State and an Observation in an Extended Kalman Filter Framework

International audienceIn this paper an efficient filtering procedure based on Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) has been proposed. The method is based on a modified nonlinear dynamic model, previously introduced for the generation of synthetic ECG signals. The proposed method considers the angular velocity of ECG signal, as one of the states of an EKF. We have considered two cases for observation equations, in one case we have assumed a corresponding observation to angular velocity state and in the other case, we have not assumed any observations for it. Quantitative evaluation of the proposed algorithm on the MIT-BIH Normal Sinus Rhythm Database (NSRDB) shows that an average SNR improvement of 8 dB is achieved for an input signal of -4 dB

ECG denoising and fiducial point extraction using an extended Kalman filtering framework with linear and nonlinear phase observations

International audienceIn this paper we propose an efficient method for denoising and extracting fiducial point (FP) of ECG signals. The method is based on a nonlinear dynamic model which uses Gaussian functions to model ECG waveforms. For estimating the model parameters, we use an extended Kalman filter (EKF). In this framework called EKF25, all the parameters of Gaussian functions as well as the ECG waveforms (P-wave, QRS complex and T-wave) in the ECG dynamical model, are considered as state variables. In this paper, the dynamic time warping method is used to estimate the nonlinear ECG phase observation. We compare this new approach with linear phase observation models. Using linear and nonlinear EKF25 for ECG denoising and nonlinear EKF25 for fiducial point extraction and ECG interval analysis are the main contributions of this paper. Performance comparison with other EKF-based techniques shows that the proposed method results in higher output SNR with an average SNR improvement of 12 dB for an input SNR of-8 dB. To evaluate the FP extraction performance, we compare the proposed method with a method based on partially collapsed Gibbs sampler and an established EKF-based method. The mean absolute error and the root mean square error of all FPs, across all databases are 14 msec and 22 msec, respectively, for our proposed method, with an advantage when using a nonlinear phase observation. These errors are significantly smaller than errors obtained with other methods. For ECG interval analysis, with an absolute mean error and a root mean square error of about 22 msec and 29 msec, the proposed method achieves better accuracy and smaller variability with respect to other methods. Keywords: Electrocardiogram (ECG), Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), Fiducial Point Extraction, Denoising

T wave alternans detection in ECG using extended kalman filter and dualrate EKF

International audienceT Wave Alternans (TWA) is considered as an indicator of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD). In this paper for TWA detection, a method based on a nonlinear dynamic model is presented. For estimating the model parameters, we use an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). We propose EKF6 and dualrate EKF6 approaches. Dualrate EKF is suitable for modeling the states which are not updated in all time instances. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the proposed method have been done on TWA challenge database. We compare our method with that proposed by Sieed et al. in TWA challenge 2008. We also compare our method with our previousproposed approach (EKF25-4obs). Results show that the proposed method can detect peak position and amplitude of T waves in ECG precisely. Mean and standard deviation of estimation error of our method for finding position of T waves do not exceed four samples (8 msec)

T wave alternans detection in ECG using extended kalman filter and dualrate EKF

International audienceT Wave Alternans (TWA) is considered as an indicator of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD). In this paper for TWA detection, a method based on a nonlinear dynamic model is presented. For estimating the model parameters, we use an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). We propose EKF6 and dualrate EKF6 approaches. Dualrate EKF is suitable for modeling the states which are not updated in all time instances. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the proposed method have been done on TWA challenge database. We compare our method with that proposed by Sieed et al. in TWA challenge 2008. We also compare our method with our previousproposed approach (EKF25-4obs). Results show that the proposed method can detect peak position and amplitude of T waves in ECG precisely. Mean and standard deviation of estimation error of our method for finding position of T waves do not exceed four samples (8 msec)

ECG Fiducial Points Extraction by Extended Kalman Filtering

International audienceMost of the clinically useful information in Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal can be obtained from the intervals, amplitudes and wave shapes (morphologies). The automatic detection of ECG waves is important to cardiac disease diagnosis. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for extraction of characteristic points of ECG. The method is based on a nonlinear dynamic model, previously introduced for generation of synthetic ECG signals. For estimating the parameters of model, we use an Extendend Kalman Filter (EKF). By introducing a simple AR model for each of the dynamic parameters of Gaussian functions in model and considering separate states for ECG waves, the new EKF structure was constructed. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the proposed method have been done on Physionet QT database (QTDB). This method is also compared with a method based on Partially Collapsed Gibbs Sampler (PCGS). Results show that the proposed method can detect fiducial points of ECG precisely and mean of estimation error of all FPs (except Ton) do not exceed five samples (20 msec)

Fiducial points extraction and charactericwaves detection in ECG signal using a model-based bayesian framework

International audienceThe automatic detection of Electrocardiogram (ECG) waves is important to cardiac disease diagnosis. A good perfor- mance of an automatic ECG analyzing system depends heavily upon the accurate and reliable detection of QRS complex, as well as P and T waves. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for extraction of characteristic points of ECG signal. The method is based on a nonlinear dynamic model, previously introduced for generation of synthetic ECG signals. For estimating the parameters of model, we use an Extendend Kalman Filter (EKF). By introducing a simple AR model for each of the dynamic parameters of Gaussian functions in model and considering separate states for ECG waves, the new EKF structure was constructed. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the proposed method have been done on Physionet QT database (QTDB). This method is also compared with another EKF approach (EKF17). Results show that the proposed method can detect fiducial points of ECG precisely and mean and standard deviation of estimation error do not exceed two samples (8 msec)

Identification of cardiac signals in ambulatory ECG data

The Electrocardiogram (ECG) is the primary tool for monitoring heart function. ECG signals contain vital information about the heart which informs diagnosis and treatment of cardiac conditions. The diagnosis of many cardiac arrhythmias require long term and continuous ECG data, often while the participant engages in activity. Wearable ambulatory ECG (AECG) systems, such as the common Holter system, allow heart monitoring for hours or days. The technological trajectory of AECG systems aims towards continuous monitoring during a wide range of activities with data processed locally in real time and transmitted to a monitoring centre for further analysis. Furthermore, hierarchical decision systems will allow wearable systems to produce alerts or even interventions. These functions could be integrated into smartphones.A fundamental limitation of this technology is the ability to identify heart signal characteristics in ECG signals contaminated with high amplitude and non-stationary noise. Noise processing become more severe as activity levels increase, and this is also when many heart problems are present.This thesis focuses on the identification of heart signals in AECG data recorded during participant activity. In particular, it explored ECG filters to identify major heart conditions in noisy AECG data. Gold standard methods use Extended Kalman filters with extrapolation based on sum of Gaussian models. New methods are developed using linear Kalman filtering and extrapolation based on a sum of Principal Component basis signals. Unlike the gold standard methods, extrapolation is heartcycle by heartcycle. Several variants are explored where basic signals span one or two heartcycles, and applied to single or multi-channel ECG data.The proposed methods are extensively tested against standard databases or normal and abnormal ECG data and the performance is compared to gold standard methods. Two performance metrics are used: improvement in signal to noise ratio and the observability of clinically important features in the heart signal. In all tests the proposed method performs better, and often significantly better, than the gold standard methods. It is demonstrated that abnormal ECG signals can be identified in noisy AECG data

ECG signal denoising using a novel approach of adaptive filters for real-time processing

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is considered as the main signal that can be used to diagnose different kinds of diseases related to human heart. During the recording process, it is usually contaminated with different kinds of noise which includes power-line interference, baseline wandering and muscle contraction. In order to clean the ECG signal, several noise removal techniques have been used such as adaptive filters, empirical mode decomposition, Hilbert-Huang transform, wavelet-based algorithm, discrete wavelet transforms, modulus maxima of wavelet transform, patch based method, and many more. Unfortunately, all the presented methods cannot be used for online processing since it takes long time to clean the ECG signal. The current research presents a unique method for ECG denoising using a novel approach of adaptive filters. The suggested method was tested by using a simulated signal using MATLAB software under different scenarios. Instead of using a reference signal for ECG signal denoising, the presented model uses a unite delay and the primary ECG signal itself. Least mean square (LMS), normalized least mean square (NLMS), and Leaky LMS were used as adaptation algorithms in this paper

ECG Noise Filtering Using Online Model-Based Bayesian Filtering Techniques

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a time-varying electrical signal that interprets the electrical activity of the heart. It is obtained by a non-invasive technique known as surface electromyography (EMG), used widely in hospitals. There are many clinical contexts in which ECGs are used, such as medical diagnosis, physiological therapy and arrhythmia monitoring. In medical diagnosis, medical conditions are interpreted by examining information and features in ECGs. Physiological therapy involves the control of some aspect of the physiological effort of a patient, such as the use of a pacemaker to regulate the beating of the heart. Moreover, arrhythmia monitoring involves observing and detecting life-threatening conditions, such as myocardial infarction or heart attacks, in a patient. ECG signals are usually corrupted with various types of unwanted interference such as muscle artifacts, electrode artifacts, power line noise and respiration interference, and are distorted in such a way that it can be difficult to perform medical diagnosis, physiological therapy or arrhythmia monitoring. Consequently signal processing on ECGs is required to remove noise and interference signals for successful clinical applications. Existing signal processing techniques can remove some of the noise in an ECG signal, but are typically inadequate for extraction of the weak ECG components contaminated with background noise and for retention of various subtle features in the ECG. For example, the noise from the EMG usually overlaps the fundamental ECG cardiac components in the frequency domain, in the range of 0.01 Hz to 100 Hz. Simple filters are inadequate to remove noise which overlaps with ECG cardiac components. Sameni et al. have proposed a Bayesian filtering framework to resolve these problems, and this gives results which are clearly superior to the results obtained from application of conventional signal processing methods to ECG. However, a drawback of this Bayesian filtering framework is that it must run offline, and this of course is not desirable for clinical applications such as arrhythmia monitoring and physiological therapy, both of which re- quire online operation in near real-time. To resolve this problem, in this thesis we propose a dynamical model which permits the Bayesian filtering framework to function online. The framework with the proposed dynamical model has less than 4% loss in performance compared to the previous (offline) version of the framework. The proposed dynamical model is based on theory from fixed-lag smoothing

ADAPTIVE MODELS-BASED CARDIAC SIGNALS ANALYSIS AND FEATURE EXTRACTION

Signal modeling and feature extraction are among the most crucial and important steps for stochastic signal processing. In this thesis, a general framework that employs adaptive model-based recursive Bayesian state estimation for signal processing and feature extraction is described. As a case study, the proposed framework is studied for the problem of cardiac signal analysis. The main objective is to improve the signal processing aspects of cardiac signals by developing new techniques based on adaptive modelling of electrocardiogram (ECG) wave-forms. Specially several novel and improved approaches to model-based ECG decomposition, waveform characterization and feature extraction are proposed and studied in detail. In the concept of ECG decomposition and wave-forms characterization, the main idea is to extend and improve the signal dynamical models (i.e. reducing the non-linearity of the state model with respect to previous solutions) while combining with Kalman smoother to increase the accuracy of the model in order to split the ECG signal into its waveform components, as it is proved that Kalman filter/smoother is an optimal estimator in minimum mean square error (MMSE) for linear dynamical systems. The framework is used for many real applications, such as: ECG components extraction, ST segment analysis (estimation of a possible marker of ventricular repolarization known as T/QRS ratio) and T-wave Alternans (TWA) detection, and its extension to many other applications is straightforward. Based on the proposed framework, a novel model to characterization of Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is presented which is more effective when compared with other methods proposed with the same aims. In this model, ventricular activity (VA) is represented by a sum of Gaussian kernels, while a sinusoidal model is employed for atrial activity (AA). This new model is able to track AA, VA and fibrillatory frequency simultaneously against other methods which try to analyze the atrial fibrillatory waves (f-waves) after VA cancellation. Furthermore we study a new ECG processing method for assessing the spatial dispersion of ventricular repolarization (SHVR) using V-index and a novel algorithm to estimate the index is presented, leading to more accurate estimates. The proposed algorithm was used to study the diagnostic and prognostic value of the V-index in patients with symptoms suggestive of Acute Myocardial Infraction (AMI)