title: Electrocardiogram based neonatal seizure detection.
abstract: A method for the detection of seizures in the newborn using the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is presented. Using a database of eight recordings, a method was developed for automatically annotating each 1-min epoch as "nonseizure" or "seizure". The system uses a linear discriminant classifier to process 41 heartbeat timing interval features. Performance assessment of the method showed that on a patient-specific basis an average accuracy of 70.5% was achieved in detecting seizures with associated sensitivity of 62.2% and specificity of 71.8%. On a patient-independent basis the average accuracy was 68.3% with sensitivity of 54.6% and specificity of 77.3%. Shifting the decision threshold for the patient-independent classifier allowed an increase in sensitivity to 78.4% at the expense of decreased specificity (51.6%), leading to increased false detections. The results of our ECG-based method are comparable with those reported for EEG-based neonatal seizure detection systems and offer the benefit of an easier acquisition methodology for seizure detection.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical, Electronic & Mechanical Engineering, University College Dublin, Ireland. barry.greene@ee.ucd.ie
authors.forename: Barry R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Chazal
authors.forename: Geraldine B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Boylan
authors.forename: Seán
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Reilly
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012640:Seizures / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity