Automatic detection of wave boundaries in multilead ECG signals: validation with the CSE database

This paper presents an algorithm for automatically locating the waveform boundaries (the onsets and ends of P, QRS, and T waves) in multilead ECG signals (the 12 standard leads and the orthogonal XYZ leads). Given these locations, features of clinical importance (such as the RR interval, the PQ interval, the QRS duration, the ST segment, and the QT interval) may be measured readily. First, a multilead QRS detector locates each beat, using a differentiated and low-pass filtered ECG signal as input. Next, the waveform boundaries are located in each lead. The leads in which the detected electrical activity is of longest duration are used for the final determination of the waveform boundaries. The performance of our algorithm has been evaluated using the CSE multilead measurement database. In comparison with other algorithms tested by the CSE, our algorithm achieves better agreement with manual measurements of the T-wave end and of interval values, while its measurements of other waveform boundaries are within the range of the algorithm and manual measurements obtained by the CSE.