About QRS Diagnostic's EKG Analysis Program
Printable
version of "About the EKG Analysis Program".
The
narrative ECG interpretation algorithm available
with QRS Universal ECG™ and Biolog™ diagnostic
ECG devices was developed in the early 1990s by
Cardionics, S.A. of Brussels, Belgium, in
conjunction with the University of Louvaine
Medical School. In the late 1990s, the New
Cardionics ECG Algorithm was licensed to
Micromedical Industries, Australia, which was
subsequently purchased by QRS Diagnostic, LLC,
Minneapolis, MN USA in 2003.
In 1991, clinical researchers evaluated nine popular ECG algorithms compared to eight cardiologists relative to a standardized database of ECG tracings. The results showed that the original Louvaine algorithm had:
- The best total accuracy of all the algorithms (77.3%).
- The best in correctly diagnosing Myocardial Infarction (82.1%).
- The second best
in diagnosing Ventricular Hypertrophy,
which were both better than the respective
combined scores of the eight cardiologists.
Control Patients
N=382
Ventricular Hypertrophy
N=291Myocardial Infarction
N=547Total Accuracy
N=1220Padova 89.8 61.3 47.1 62.0 Nagoya-Fukuda 89.3 42.6 63.7 65.6 IBM Medis 91.3 49.4 62.5 67.6 HP (Agilent) 93.5 51.0 64.5 69.3 Glasgow 94.0 51.0 67.7 69.7 GE (Marquette) 86.3 61.1 69.7 69.8 Means 97.1 42.5 67.2 69.8 Hannover 86.6 72.1 79.0 75.8 Louvaine 91.5 67.0 82.1* 77.3* 8 Cardiologists Combined Scores 97.1 64.4 80.3 79.2
The numbers in the table above represent the percent correct diagnosis.
In 1994, clinical researchers evaluated the New Cardionics algorithm using the same methodology as in the clinical study above. The results were compared to the other eleven programs tested (Louvaine VCG, Marquette ECG, Hewlett-Packard ECG, Medis IBM ECG, Nagoya-Fukuda ECG, Lyon VCG, Glassgow ECG, Porto VCG, Padova ECG, Means VCG, and Means ECG). The results showed that the New Cardionics program had:
-
The highest score of total and partial accuracy at 73%.
-
The second highest rating for distinguishing between normal and abnormal patients 94.8%.
- The highest sensitivity to AMI (Anterior Myocardial Infarction) at 81.8% with only 3.6% false positives for non-AMI cases.
- The second highest sensitivity to detection of IMI (Inferior Myocardial Infarction) at 73.4%.
Testimonials
"Hello to the folks at
QRS!
I am writing today because your product line
would be very useful in my job. I am (a) home
health nurse.. and have dreamt for years about
computer devices that would speed up the time
consuming and expensive tasks involved in taking
vital signs, lugging around the pulse oximetry
machine (if one is available), then having to
return it to the office (32 miles round trip),
and having to record mountains of patient
information again and again on every patient. We
used to get rhythm strips on patients but
stopped because we couldn't transmit the
information to the M.D., at least not in a
timely fashion. So we do everything with paper
and pencil, just like nurses did 200 years ago,
I suppose. So when I saw your banner in "All
Things CE" I just couldn't believe it, finally
somebody invented the wheel. I was ready to
order every item on your menu, I could use all
of them".. I (was) just waiting for the day (my
CE device) could take and record vitals,
oximetry readings, EKG strips, etc., and date
stamp the results with the patients' I.D., this
would save me at least five hours per week and
who knows the value of having consistently
accurate, reliable data. This translates to over
$5,000 a year just in salary alone! Every home
health agency in the country will be knocking on
your door!"
Fred Hondel R.N.
"I cannot overstate the joy with which the
system was received, and, by the way, how
impressed I was with the Universal ECG. It is a
tremendous system, convenient and easy to use.
It is substantially superior to two larger
hospital-based EKG computer systems that I have
used at two large Hospitals here in
Nashville.....
Brian R. McMurray, MD, FACP, FACEP
Brentwood, TN
"In designing a new practice from scratch
when I returned to practice after an illness, I
faced challenges and opportunities. From the
lessons of my prior 27 years in practice, I
needed to design and implement systems that
would be cost effective, upgradeable, paperless
and easy to maintain. Since reimbursement for
ECG's from insurers and Medicare has fallen to
the area of around $34 I had strict budget
issues to assure a reasonable ROI for doing
office ECGs at all.
After scanning the available products, my choice
of QRS for EKG was an easy one. Simplicity of
use was an impressive plus for the system. The
fact that paper ECG use/storage could be
eliminated fit well with my need for an
electronic medical record. The very reasonable
price was a pleasant surprise...
The software for ECG interpretation has been
excellent and highly reliable. There is adequate
disk capacity to store thousands of ECG's and a
system backup was easily available off the shelf
at my local computer store for under $120.00.
ECG's are so fast and easy to perform that I
have no need for a technician. I perform them
myself as part of the exam when appropriate.
Patients marvel at the equipment and love the
extra time (about 4 minutes) it takes to put on
the leads and run the test. For a small to
moderate size practice, this system is an
excellent choice for office based ECGs."
Sam Sugar, MD
Evanston, IL