Evaluation system for obtaining diagnostic information from the signals and data of medical sensor systems

• US 6,607,480 B1
• Filed: 09/01/2000
• Issued: 08/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bundesrepublik Deutschland Vertreten Durch DAS Bundesministerium FUER Wirtschaft und Technologie Dieses Vertreten Durch Den Praesidenten Der Physikalisch-Technischen Bundesantalt
• Original Assignee: Federal Republic of Germany
• Inventors: Bousseljot, Ralf, Kreiseler, Dieter
• Primary Examiner(s): ASTORINO, MICHAEL C
• Application Number:
  US09/623,346
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• Field of Search: 600/300-301, 600/505, 600/515, 128/920-925
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof

Abstract

The invention provides a means of deriving highly reliable diagnostic information from the signals and data of medical measuring systems without first reducing the measuring data to individual characteristics and then associating these using decision trees in order to form a diagnostic conclusion. To this end, a comparator compares the measuring data recorded by a patient and provided by the sensor channels of a measuring system with measuring data which is stored in measuring databases and which is provided by comparable sensor channels of reference measuring systems. The data is compared in such a way that the reference measuring systems selected from the measuring databases are those which bear the most similarity to the measurements taken by the patient in terms of the measuring data of comparable sensor channels and which have a greatest possible number of the sensor channels which best match in terms of measuring data and which best correspond to each other. The selected reference measuring systems, along with the information belonging to the reference measuring systems of the measuring database and the comparison of this with the information belonging to the patient, are then used to form a diagnostic conclusion which applies to the patient with a certain degree of probability.

Claims

1. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information for a current patient from signals of medical systems, including:

a medical sensor system having a plurality of sensor channels for detecting biological activities of a patient over a given period of time and outputting corresponding sensor signals;

at least one database containing a plurality of reference data sets, each reference data set including comparable sensor signals and technical, medical, diagnostic and personal information for a past patient;

a comparator in communication with the medical sensor system and the database which compares the sensor signals with the comparable sensor channels of the reference data sets stored in the database, wherein the comparator selects reference data sets having similar sensor signals to the sensor signals of the current patient; and

a computer which determines a probability for the selected reference data sets by comparing the technical, medical, diagnostic and personal information of the selected reference data sets with technical, medical, diagnostic and personal information from the current patient.

2. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information from signals of medical systems according to claim 1, wherein the sensor channels provide a continuous sequence of sensor signals over a given period of time and one or more segments of limited time from this continuous sequence of measured values.

3. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information from signals of medical systems according to claim 1, wherein each reference data set in the database also contains additional personal information of the past patient which is used by the comparator to further adjust the probability of the reference data set.

4. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information from signals of medical systems according to claim 1, wherein the database contains reference data sets having sensor signals and technical, medical, diagnostic and personal information from both healthy persons and sick persons.

5. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information from signals of medical systems according to claim 1, wherein new reference data sets are added to the database.

6. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information from signals of medical systems according to claim 1, including an electronic storage medium on which the database is stored.

7. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information from signals of medical systems according to claim 1, wherein the medical sensor system further includes biological sensor systems in communication with the sensor channels which are attached to the patient.

8. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information from signals of medical systems according to claim 1, wherein the medical sensor system is an electrocardiograph recording system.

9. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information from signals of medical sensor systems according to claim 1, including an electronic storage medium located remotely from the recording system and on which the database is stored, and a data network by which the database is available.

10. An evaluating system for obtaining diagnostic information from signals and data of medical sensor systems according to claim 1, wherein the medical sensor system is a cardiological recording system.