Improved ECG algorithm - big impacts for telemedicine

University of Tennessee, Knoxville researchers, led by Dr. Xiaopeng Zhao, have developed a new algorithm to improve ECGs that are conducted remotely over a smartphone.  First, since I find telemedicine fascinating but don't follow the field closely, I wasn't even aware that you could conduct an ECG on a smartphone.  Knowing that, the algorithm described improves the ability to conduct one remotely (and possibly by someone who is not a trained expert) by attempting to analyze the possibility of noise in the signal, and even tries to provide suggestions about electrode placement.

This is amazing, fascinating, and my big question is how soon this can be rolled out into care!  Obviously proper evaluation needs to be done, but this has great implications for providing care in remote settings, not only internationally but even domestically.  The implications for medical research may also be addressed if studies could benefit from field conduction of ECGs.

From a technical standpoint (sorry, I always have to go there) I'm fascinated as well that this can be run on a smartphone with great efficiency.  Probably another reason that we as programmers need to keep in mind that throwing more hardware power at a solution isn't always an option.  Likewise, not everything can go "to the cloud" - these smartphones are more than likely going to be without a cell signal at times and will require to be run standalone.  It would be interesting to see this taken further to tablets as well, perhaps creating real-time patient monitors for mobile care.

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