Automatic diagnosis of strict left bundle branch block using a wavelet-based approach

PLoS One. 2019 Feb 25;14(2):e0212971. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212971. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Patients with left bundle branch block (LBBB) are known to have a good clinical response to cardiac resynchronization therapy. However, the high number of false positive diagnosis obtained with the conventional LBBB criteria limits the effectiveness of this therapy, which has yielded to the definition of new stricter criteria. They require prolonged QRS duration, a QS or rS pattern in the QRS complexes at leads V1 and V2 and the presence of mid-QRS notch/slurs in 2 leads within V1, V2, V5, V6, I and aVL. The aim of this work was to develop and assess a fully-automatic algorithm for strict LBBB diagnosis based on the wavelet transform. Twelve-lead, high-resolution, 10-second ECGs from 602 patients enrolled in the MADIT-CRT trial were available. Data were labelled for strict LBBB by 2 independent experts and divided into training (n = 300) and validation sets (n = 302) for assessing algorithm performance. After QRS detection, a wavelet-based delineator was used to detect individual QRS waves (Q, R, S), QRS onsets and ends, and to identify the morphological QRS pattern on each standard lead. Then, multilead QRS boundaries were defined in order to compute the global QRS duration. Finally, an automatic algorithm for notch/slur detection within the QRS complex was applied based on the same wavelet approach used for delineation. In the validation set, LBBB was diagnosed with a sensitivity and specificity of Se = 92.9% and Sp = 65.1% (Acc = 79.5%, PPV = 74% and NPV = 89.6%). The results confirmed that diagnosis of strict LBBB can be done based on a fully automatic extraction of temporal and morphological QRS features. However, it became evident that consensus in the definition of QRS duration as well as notch and slurs definitions is necessary in order to guarantee accurate and repeatable diagnosis of complete LBBB.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Bundle-Branch Block / diagnosis*
  • Bundle-Branch Block / therapy
  • Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy
  • Electrocardiography
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Sensitivity and Specificity

Grants and funding

This work was supported by CIBER in Bioengineering, Biomaterials & Nanomedicne (CIBER-BBN) through Instituto de Salud Carlos III and FEDER (Spain), project DPI2016-75458-R funded by MINECO and FEDER, and by Gobierno de Aragón and European Social Fund (EU) through BSICoS Reference Group (T39-17R). The computation was performed by the ICTS NANBIOSIS, specifically by the High Performance Computing Unit of the CIBER-BBN at the University of Zaragoza. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.