ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS AND ECG INTERPRETATION - USE AND ABUSE

The computerized interpretation of the resting electrocardiogram has r eached a steady-state phase: an equilibrium between sensitivity and sp ecificity has been reached. New computer techniques, such as expert sy stems and artificial neural network technology, have been proposed or are currently under evaluation. Although neural network techniques are based on complex mathematical theories and their application is full of pitfalls, progress has been made in a number of subdomains, like si gnal filtering, electrocardiographic classification, and compression o f stress electrocardiograms. Presently, the hesitating acceptance by t he human user forms one of the obstacles that needs to be overcome by convincing, well-performed studies.