iCloudECG: A Mobile Cardiac Telemedicine System

Abstract

With rising healthcare costs and a substantially growing number of patients 65 or over, the benefits of telemedicine and patient self-monitoring systems are becoming increasingly evident. Patients, physicians, hospitals, and even insurance providers benefit from vigilant, cost-effective patient monitoring systems. This thesis describes the development of a portable, smart-phone connected system for continuous cardiac monitoring. The system is capable of continuously monitoring the conditions of the heart, automated detection of cardiac arrhythmias, and real-time notifying patients and physicians of the detected abnormalities. The system consists of four main subsystems: 1) a Bluetooth capable chest-strap ECG, 2) an Android-enabled mobile device, 3) a cloud-based analysis, storage, and notification system, and 4) a web-application portal. Data is collected by the single-lead ECG device, and transmitted to the mobile device via Bluetooth. An application allows the patient to view their ECG output in real-time, view the last 24 hours of recordings, and receive notifications and details regarding any detected abnormalities. The mobile device transmits the ECG data to a remote server for pre-processing and analysis, and then stores the data in a database which the patient or physician can access via a web-interface. The developed system can be used as a telemedicine system for management of cardiovascular diseases