Transfer learning in ECG classification from human to horse using a novel parallel neural network architecture

Automatic or semi-automatic analysis of the equine electrocardiogram (eECG) is currently not possible because human or small animal ECG analysis software is unreliable due to a different ECG morphology in horses resulting from a different cardiac innervation. Both filtering, beat detection to classification for eECGs are currently poorly or not described in the literature. There are also no public databases available for eECGs as is the case for human ECGs. In this paper we propose the use of wavelet transforms for both filtering and QRS detection in eECGs. In addition, we propose a novel robust deep neural network using a parallel convolutional neural network architecture for ECG beat classification. The network was trained and tested using both the MIT-BIH arrhythmia and an own made eECG dataset with 26.440 beats on 4 classes: normal, premature ventricular contraction, premature atrial contraction and noise. The network was optimized using a genetic algorithm and an accuracy of 97.7% and 92.6% was achieved for the MIT-BIH and eECG database respectively. Afterwards, transfer learning from the MIT-BIH dataset to the eECG database was applied after which the average accuracy, recall, positive predictive value and F1 score of the network increased with an accuracy of 97.1%

On the detection of myocardial scar based on ECG/VCG analysis

In this paper, we address the problem of detecting the presence of myocardial scar from standard ECG/VCG recordings, giving effort to develop a screening system for the early detection of scar in the point-of-care. Based on the pathophysiological implications of scarred myocardium, which results in disordered electrical conduction, we have implemented four distinct ECG signal processing methodologies in order to obtain a set of features that can capture the presence of myocardial scar. Two of these methodologies: a.) the use of a template ECG heartbeat, from records with scar absence coupled with Wavelet coherence analysis and b.) the utilization of the VCG are novel approaches for detecting scar presence. Following, the pool of extracted features is utilized to formulate an SVM classification model through supervised learning. Feature selection is also employed to remove redundant features and maximize the classifier's performance. Classification experiments using 260 records from three different databases reveal that the proposed system achieves 89.22% accuracy when applying 10- fold cross validation, and 82.07% success rate when testing it on databases with different inherent characteristics with similar levels of sensitivity (76%) and specificity (87.5%)

DELINEATION OF ECG FEATURE EXTRACTION USING MULTIRESOLUTION ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK

ECG signals have very features time-varying morphology, distinguished as P wave, QRS complex, and T wave. Delineation in ECG signal processing is an important step used to identify critical points that mark the interval and amplitude locations in the features of each wave morphology. The results of ECG signal delineation can be used by clinicians to associate the pattern of delineation point results with morphological classes, besides delineation also produces temporal parameter values of ECG signals. The delineation process includes detecting the onset and offset of QRS complex, P and T waves that represented as pulse width, and also the detection of the peak from each wave feature. The previous study had applied bandpass filters to reduce amplitude of P and T waves, then the signal was passed through non-linear transformations such as derivatives or square to enhance QRS complex. However, the spectrum bandwidth of QRS complex from different patients or same patient may be different, so the previous method was less effective for the morphological variations in ECG signals. This study developed delineation from the ECG feature extraction based on multiresolution analysis with discrete wavelet transform. The mother wavelet used was a quadratic spline function with compact support. Finally, determination of R, T, and P wave peaks were shown by zero crossing of the wavelet transform signals, while the onset and offset were generated from modulus maxima and modulus minima. Results show the proposed method was able to detect QRS complex with sensitivity of 97.05% and precision of 95.92%, T wave detection with sensitivity of 99.79% and precision of 96.46%, P wave detection with sensitivity of 56.69% and precision of 57.78%. The implementation in real time analysis of time-varying ECG morphology will be addressed in the future research

Detection of QRS Complex in ECG Signal using Wavelet Transform and Thresholding Technique

The Electrocardiogram is a powerful tool that provides the remarkable information about the cardiac disorders. QRS complex detection in ECG signal is very important for finding some cardiac disease. QRS complex has been detected by wavelet transform. Symlet-4 wavelet has been used for QRS detection. In the wavelet transform, thresholding also an important parameter for obtaining the higher output. The Rigersure type threshold gives highest sensitivity of 99.34%.The analysis has been done on ECG data files of the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database. Index termsecg, QRS complex detection, discrete wavelet transform, Multi resolution analysis, threshold

Wavelet based QRS detection in ECG using MATLAB

In recent years, ECG signal plays an important role in the primary diagnosis, prognosis and survivalanalysis of heart diseases. Electrocardiography has had a profound influence on the practice of medicine.This paper deals with the detection of QRS complexes of ECG signals using derivativebased/Pan-Tompkins/wavelet transform based algorithms. The electrocardiogram signal contains animportant amount of information that can be exploited in different manners. The ECG signal allows for theanalysis of anatomic and physiologic aspects of the whole cardiac muscle. Different ECG signals fromMIT/BIH Arrhythmia data base are used to verify the various algorithms using MATLAB software.Wavelet based algorithm presented in this paper is compared with the AF2 algorithm/Pan-Tompkinsalgorithms for signal denoising and detection of QRS complexes meanwhile better results are obtained forECG signals by the wavelet based algorithm. In the wavelet based algorithm, the ECG signal has beendenoised by removing the corresponding wavelet coefficients at higher scales. Then QRS complexes aredetected and each complex is used to find the peaks of the individual waves like P and T, and also theirdeviations.Keywords: Electrocardiogram (ECG), AF2 Algorithm, MATLAB, Pan-Tompkins algorithm, WaveletTransform, Denoisin

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