title: Automatic real-time ECG coding methodology guaranteeing signal interpretation quality.
abstract: This paper introduces a new methodology for compressing ECG signals in an automatic way guaranteeing signal interpretation quality. The approach is based on noise estimation in the ECG signal that is used as a compression threshold in the coding stage. The Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees algorithm is used to code the signal in the wavelet domain. Forty different ECG records from two different ECG databases commonly used in ECG compression have been considered to validate the approach. Three cardiologists have participated in the clinical trial using mean opinion score tests in order to rate the signals quality. Results showed that the approach not only achieves very good ECG reconstruction quality but also enhances the visual quality of the ECG signal.
authors.affiliation: Communications Technologies Group, Aragón Institute of Engineering Research, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50018, Spain. alesanco@unizar.es
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alesanco
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000503:physiopathology; D044962:Data Compression / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results