Accurate detection of atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter using the electrocardiomatrix technique

Veronica Lee; Gang Xu; Vivian Liu; Peter Farrehi; Jimo Borjigin

doi:10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2018.08.011

Accurate detection of atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter using the electrocardiomatrix technique

J Electrocardiol. 2018 Nov-Dec;51(6S):S121-S125. doi: 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2018.08.011. Epub 2018 Aug 11.

Authors

Veronica Lee¹, Gang Xu¹, Vivian Liu¹, Peter Farrehi², Jimo Borjigin³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
² Department of Internal Medicine-Cardiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Cardiovascular Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
³ Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Cardiovascular Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: Borjigin@umich.edu.

PMID: 30115368
DOI: 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2018.08.011

Abstract

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AFIB) and atrial flutter (AFL) are two common cardiac arrhythmias that predispose patients to serious medical conditions. There is a need to accurately detect these arrhythmias to prevent diseases and reduce mortality. Apart from accurately detecting these arrhythmias, it is also important to distinguish between AFIB and AFL due to differing clinical treatments.

Methods: In this study, we applied a new technology, the electrocardiomatrix (ECM) invented in our lab, in detecting AFIB and AFL in human patients. ECM converts 2D ECG signals into a 3D color matrix, which renders arrhythmia detection intuitive, fast, and accurate. Using ECM, we analyzed the ECG signals from the online MIT-BIH Atrial Fibrillation Database (PhysioNet), and compared our ECM-based results to manual annotations based on ECG by physicians.

Results: Results demonstrate that ECM and PhysioNet annotations of AFIB and AFL agree more than 99% of the time. The sensitivities of the ECM for AFIB and AFL detection were 99.2% and 98.0%, respectively, and the specificities of the ECM for AFIB and AFL were both at 99.8% and 99.8%.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that ECM is a reliable method for accurate identification of AFIB and AFL.

Keywords: Arrhythmia detection; Atrial fibrillation; Atrial flutter; Electrocardiomatrix (ECM); Sensitivity; Specificity.

MeSH terms

Algorithms
Atrial Fibrillation / diagnosis*
Atrial Fibrillation / physiopathology
Atrial Flutter / diagnosis*
Atrial Flutter / physiopathology
Color
Databases, Factual
Diagnosis, Differential
Electrocardiography / methods*
Equipment Design
Humans
Sensitivity and Specificity
Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted