Listening for the Beat of a Healthy Heart: Analysis of Heartbeat Patterns Reveals Cardiac Problems

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LISTENING FOR THE BEAT OF A HEALTHY HEART Analysis of Heartbeat Patterns Reveals Cardiac Problems

Boston, Mass.) -- Scientists from Boston University's College of Engineering have developed the first objective diagnostic tool to determine whether a patient suffers from congestive heart failure. A simple mathematical analysis of the pattern of a person's heartbeat detects the problem with 100 percent accuracy, report the scientists in the February 16th issue of Physical Review Letters.

Using a standard data set, the scientists obtained clinically significant results using this technique -- the first to be able to objectively determine whether or not a patient suffers from congestive heart failure.

The team of scientists, led by Malvin Teich, professor of electrical and computer engineering, analyzed data from 15 patients with severe congestive heart failure and 12 healthy individuals. They applied a mathematical technique known as multiresolution wavelet analysis to determine how much the time duration of a collection of heartbeats fluctuated. By examining collections of different sizes, ranging between two and 1000 heartbeats, they found that for sets of between 16 and 32 beats they were able to accurately predict which patients had this type of heart disease and which did not. Interestingly, the patients with healthy hearts showed more fluctuation in the time duration of a collection of heartbeats than did the patients with diseased hearts.

Traditionally congestive heart failure is diagnosed by a physician through visual observation, using indicators such as swelling in the patient's ankles, and through stethoscopic observation of heart and lung sounds. Teich's technique uses objective criteria to make the diagnosis.

"It is perfectly reasonable that using this information we could develop a simple, portable device that an individual would wear to monitor their heartbeat pattern and warn them of a developing problem," says Teich. "Now that we know that this technique can predict congestive heart failure, we will apply it to other cardiac disorders that are more difficult to diagnose."

The complete paper can be found at the Physical Review Letters website, located at: http://ojps.aip.org/journals/doc/PRLTAO-home/top.html

Related papers can be found at Professor Teich's homepage, located at: http://ece.bu.edu./ECE/faculty/homepages/teich.html/

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