Apparatus to detect acute cardiac syndromes in specified groups of patients using ECG

摘要

In order to reduce bias associated with conventional ECG analysis, the present invention provides a method and apparatus to improve diagnosis of acute cardiac syndromes (ACS), such as acute myocardial infarction (118) and acute cardiac ischemia (unstable angina), in specified groups of patients (32) using ECG signals and automatic detection analysis (100). Specific criteria are developed and utilized based on a prespecified group selection for the particular patient. After identifying group membership for the particular patient, ECG data are acquired from a patient experiencing ACS symptoms. Known criteria typically used for assessing ACS are then modified (110) for the particular group membership. Such criteria significantly reduce the bias found in a baseline group for which the known criteria were established. The invention is particularly useful in identifying an ACS, and the type of ACS (118), in females under the age of 60 (102) where it has been found that the current critical ST threshold is too high to consistently identify an ACS in this subgroup.