Evaluation of an electrocardiogram on QR code

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Informatics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Electrocardiograms (ECGs) are crucial for diagnosing and monitoring cardiac conditions like ischemic heart disease, myocarditis, arrhythmia, and cardiomyopathy.
• Accurate diagnosis relies on comparing current ECGs with historical data, often requiring access to hospital ECG data servers.
• Limited data connectivity between hospitals hinders the seamless transfer and comparison of vital ECG information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a portable and accessible method for storing and retrieving ECG data.
• To enable ECG data utilization independent of hospital server connections.
• To assess the usability and accuracy of a novel ECG data encoding system.

Main Methods:

• ECG data was converted into text data and encoded into 2D QR codes.
• A system was developed to decode QR codes and reconstruct ECGs using the Google Chart API.
• The system was evaluated on iPhone and iPad devices by fourteen cardiologists and six general physicians.

Main Results:

• The system successfully converted ECG data into QR codes for portability.
• Decoded ECGs were accurately reconstructed and visualized using the Google Chart API.
• Physicians expressed satisfaction with the system's usability and the accuracy of the decoded ECGs compared to original data.

Conclusions:

• The developed QR code system offers a viable solution for portable ECG data storage and retrieval.
• This technology enhances the accessibility of ECG data, overcoming limitations of server connectivity.
• The system shows potential for improving the utilization of ECG data in clinical practice, irrespective of network availability.