Improving Deep Learning-based Cardiac Abnormality Detection in 12-Lead ECG with Data Augmentation

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2022 Jul:2022:945-949. doi: 10.1109/EMBC48229.2022.9871969.

Abstract

Automated Electrocardiogram (ECG) classification using deep neural networks requires large datasets annotated by medical professionals, which is time-consuming and expensive. This work examines ECG augmentation as a method for enriching existing datasets at low cost. First, we introduce three novel augmentations: Limb Electrode Move and Chest Electrode Move both simulate a minor electrode mislocation during signal measurement, and Heart Vector Transform generates an ECG by modeling a rotated main heart axis. These techniques are then combined with nine time series signal augmentations from literature. Evaluation was performed on ICBEB, PTB-XL Diagnostic, PTB-XL Rhythm, and PTB-XL Form datasets. Compared to models trained without data augmentation, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was increased by 3.5%, 1.7%, 1.4% and 3.5%, respectively. Our experiments demonstrated that data augmentation can improve deep learning performance in ECG classification. Analyses of the individual augmentation effects established the efficacy of the three proposed augmentations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Deep Learning*
  • Electrocardiography / methods
  • Neural Networks, Computer
  • ROC Curve