A test experience with a machine-processed electrocardiography diagnosis: the recognition of "normal" and some specific patterns.
Five hundred ECG's, machine processed by the commercially available IBM Bonner-Mt. Sinai System, have been reviewed. The diagnostic printouts were of value as an adjunct to the physician's interpretations, but were not sufficiently reliable--in regard to either sensitivity (identification of the abnormal or borderline) or specificity (accuracy in predicting typical abnormalities)--to allow us to condone any claim for it being an independent reliable diagnostic service to noncardiologist clinicians. Despite this desclaimer for current diagnostic reliability of ECG computer analyses, specifically the IBM-Bonner system, we continue to be of the firm conviction that progress through this method of ECG analysis will have much to contribute in future years.