Performance and limitations of automated ECG interpretation statements in patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome

Abstract

Background: The 12‑lead ECG plays an important role in triaging patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease, making automated ECG interpretation statements of "Acute MI" or "Acute Ischemia" crucial, especially during prehospital transport when access to physician interpretation of the ECG is limited. However, it remains unknown how automated interpretation statements correspond to adjudicated clinical outcomes during hospitalization. We sought to evaluate the diagnostic performance of prehospital automated interpretation statements to four well-defined clinical outcomes of interest: confirmed ST- segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI); presence of actionable coronary culprit lesions, myocardial necrosis, or any acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Methods: An observational cohort study that enrolled consecutive patients with non-traumatic chest pain transported via ambulance. Prehospital ECGs were obtained with the Philips MRX monitor from the medical command center and re-processed using manufacturer-specific diagnostic algorithms to denote the likelihood of >>>Acute MI<<< or >>>Acute Ischemia<<<. Two independent reviewers retrospectively adjudicated the study outcomes and disagreements were resolved by a third reviewer.

Results: Our study included 2400 patients (age 59 ± 16, 47% females, 41% Black), with 190 (8%) patients with documented automated diagnostic statements of acute MI or acute ischemia. The sensitivity/specificity of the automated algorithm for detecting confirmed STEMI (n = 143, 6%); presence of actionable coronary culprit lesions (n = 258, 11%), myocardial necrosis (n = 291, 12%), or any ACS (n = 378, 16%) were 62.9%/95.6%; 37.2%/95.6%; 38.5%/96.4%; and 30.7%/96.3%, respectively.

Conclusion: Although being very specific, automated interpretation statements of acute MI/acute ischemia on prehospital ECGs are not satisfactorily sensitive to exclude symptomatic coronary disease. Patients without these automated interpretation statements should be considered further for significant underlying coronary disease based on the clinical context.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov # NCT04237688.

Keywords: ACS; Acute MI; Automated interpretation; Diagnostic statements; STEMI.