NEW TRENDS IN SERIAL ECG ANALYSIS

The prerequisite for future development and assessment of serial elect rocardiographic analysis programs is the availability of easy to use d atabase management systems for storage and retrieval of electrocardiog raphic data and results and efficient means for electronic interchange of digital electrocardiographic data. The basic aim of project 2026 o f the European program for advanced informatics in medicine is to enco urage ''open European data interchange and processing for electrocardi ography'' (OEDIPE) and to provide objective decision support technique s in the field of quantitative electrocardiology. The final objective is to develop demonstration systems for the follow-up evaluation of (1 ) selected populations with heart disease, (2) integrating serial anal ysis, (3) decision support, (4) open databases, and (5) communication protocols, which will foreshadow large-scale monitoring of ambulatory or critically ill patients at home, during their transportation in an emergency vehicle, or during their stay in a hospital. The first-year objectives and achievements of the OEDIPE project are briefly describe d. Emphasis is put on the management of serial electrocardiographic re cords and data and on the control strategies for the management of the serial analysis process.