Automatic wave onset and offset determination in ECG signals: Validation with the CSE database

The authors present a method for automatically determining the characteristic points (onset and offset) of the P, QRS, and T waves in multilead electrocardiogram (ECG) signals from the 15 standard leads. From these points significant clinical parameters are measured, in particular PR interval, PR segment, QRS interval, ST segment, and QT interval. The method makes use of the differentiated low-pass filtered ECG signal and information about wave shape. The procedure begins applying a multilead QRS detector to recognize beat activity in each lead. After that, waves onset and offset are searched in each lead, and a selection is done to consider those limits from leads where the electrical activity of the heart has longer temporal projection. The performance has been evaluated with the CSE multi-lead measurement database, comparing the results with those from other programs and manual measurement. The method improves the T wave end measures, since it results in much better agreement with clinical experts than other programs. The same evaluation has been done with the interval values, and the results are lower than the tolerances recommended by CSE experts