S4D-ECG: A Shallow State-of-the-Art Model for Cardiac Abnormality Classification

Zhaojing Huang; Luis Fernando Herbozo Contreras; Leping Yu; Nhan Duy Truong; Armin Nikpour; Omid Kavehei

doi:10.1007/s13239-024-00716-3

S4D-ECG: A Shallow State-of-the-Art Model for Cardiac Abnormality Classification

Cardiovasc Eng Technol. 2024 Feb 8. doi: 10.1007/s13239-024-00716-3. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zhaojing Huang^#¹, Luis Fernando Herbozo Contreras^#², Leping Yu², Nhan Duy Truong², Armin Nikpour^{3

4}, Omid Kavehei²

Affiliations

¹ School of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Sydney, Darlington, NSW, Australia. zhaojing.huang@sydney.edu.au.
² School of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Sydney, Darlington, NSW, Australia.
³ Central Clinical School of the University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
⁴ Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38332408
DOI: 10.1007/s13239-024-00716-3

Abstract

Purpose: This study introduces an algorithm specifically designed for processing unprocessed 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) data, with the primary aim of detecting cardiac abnormalities.

Methods: The proposed model integrates Diagonal State Space Sequence (S4D) model into its architecture, leveraging its effectiveness in capturing dynamics within time-series data. The S4D model is designed with stacked S4D layers for processing raw input data and a simplified decoder using a dense layer for predicting abnormality types. Experimental optimization determines the optimal number of S4D layers, striking a balance between computational efficiency and predictive performance. This comprehensive approach ensures the model's suitability for real-time processing on hardware devices with limited capabilities, offering a streamlined yet effective solution for heart monitoring.

Results: Among the notable features of this algorithm is its strong resilience to noise, enabling the algorithm to achieve an average F1-score of 81.2% and an AUROC of 95.5% in generalization. The model underwent testing specifically on the lead II ECG signal, exhibiting consistent performance with an F1-score of 79.5% and an AUROC of 95.7%.

Conclusion: It is characterized by the elimination of pre-processing features and the availability of a low-complexity architecture that makes it suitable for implementation on numerous computing devices because it is easily implementable. Consequently, this algorithm exhibits considerable potential for practical applications in analyzing real-world ECG data. This model can be placed on the cloud for diagnosis. The model was also tested on lead II of the ECG alone and has demonstrated promising results, supporting its potential for on-device application.

Keywords: Classification accuracy; ECG analysis; Low complexity architecture; Noise robustness; S4D model.