Pre-Hospital Management of Acute Myocardial Infarction Using Tele-Electrocardiography System

A comprehensive survey revealed that many patients of Acute Myocardial Infarction reach to the hospital so late to deliver an effective treatment. This leads to poor treatment outcome which increases the mortality rates. Multiple reasons such as lack of diagnostic facilities in the rural health care centers and absence of cardiologists in Emergency Rooms inhibit the timely treatment. In this study, we aimed to develop an effective system to pre-hospital management of Acute Myocardial Infarction. The effectiveness of early thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction is well established, particularly with regard to its positive effect on reducing the mortality rates. Our proposed system by using tele-electrocardiography technology enables cardiologist to analyze the patientu0027s signal far away from a medical center. This system transmits the collected ECG signal as well some vital signs to the medical center by using internet network. In order to review and analyze the recorded data, an ECG Viewer software is added to this system. The automatic measurement algorithm and some additional tools embedded in the ECG Viewer provide a convenient platform for ECG signal analysis by the cardiologist in the medical center. The designed system has been tested as a prototype in Tehran Emergency Service Center. The evaluation of the proposed system shows acceptable results in recording, transmission, and accurate analysis of ECG signals to early diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction.