Hand held device for automatic cardiac risk and diagnostic assessment

A method of automatically assessing a patient's risk of an acute cardiac risk, the method comprising:

• receiving, from the patient at a first time, a baseline electrocardiogram (ECG), wherein the patient uses a wireless hand-held apparatus having at least four electrodes to acquire three substantially orthogonal leads, wherein the baseline ECG is received by a processor;
• storing the baseline ECG in a first memory accessible to the processor;
• receiving, from the patient at a second time, risk assessment information, wherein the risk assessment information is received by the processor;
• storing a pre-existing risk score based on the risk assessment information in a second memory accessible by the processor;
• receiving, from the patient at a third time that is more than a day from the first time, a sample ECG, wherein the patient self-records the sample ECG using the wireless hand-held apparatus and a current symptoms indication, wherein the current symptoms indication is selected from a predetermined list of symptom selectable on the wireless hand-held apparatus;
• determining, in the processor, an ECG risk score from the sample ECG and the baseline ECG, and a chest pain risk score based on the current symptoms indication, and using the ECG risk score, the pre-existing risk score, and the chest pain risk score to determine a post-test risk score;
• and
• presenting, to the patient, a diagnostic report and patient action instruction based on the post-test risk score.

A method of automatically assessing a patient's risk of an acute cardiac risk, the method comprising:

• receiving, from the patient at a first time, a baseline electrocardiogram (ECG), wherein the patient uses a wireless hand-held apparatus having at least four electrodes to acquire three substantially orthogonal leads, wherein the baseline ECG is received by a processor;
• storing the baseline ECG in a first memory accessible to the processor;
• receiving, from the patient at a second time, risk assessment information comprising risk factors including:
• age, total cholesterol, HDL, systolic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus status, and current smoking status, wherein the risk assessment information is received by the processor;
• storing a pre-existing risk score based on the risk assessment information in a second memory accessible by the processor;
• repeating, when the patient is experiencing cardiac distress at a third time that is more than a day from the first time, the steps of:
• receiving, from the patient, a sample ECG, wherein the patient self-records the sample ECG using the wireless hand-held apparatus and a current symptoms indication, wherein the current symptoms indication is selected from a predetermined list of symptom selectable on the wireless hand-held apparatus;
• determining, in the processor, an ECG risk score from the sample ECG and the baseline ECG, and a chest pain risk score based on the current symptoms indication, and using the ECG risk score, the pre-existing risk score, and the chest pain risk score to determine a post-test risk score;
• and
• presenting, to the patient, a diagnostic report and patient action instruction based on the post-test risk score.

An apparatus comprising

• non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions capable of being executed by a processor, a processor configured to execute said instructions in order to:
• receive, from patient patient data entry subprocessor operated by the patient, risk assessment information comprising risk factors, wherein the risk assessment information is received by a processor;
• store a pre-existing risk score based on the risk assessment information;
• receive, from a cardiac-signal acquisition subprocessor, a sample of patient's cardiac signal, wherein the patient self-records the sample cardiac signal using a wireless hand-held subprocessor,
• receive, from said patient data entry subprocessor operated by the patient, a current symptoms indication;
• generate, a cardiac signals risk score from said sample cardiac signal and from a baseline cardiac signal, and a chest pain risk score based on the current symptoms indication,
• generate a post-test risk score output based on the cardiac signals risk score, the pre-existing risk score, and the chest pain risk score;
• and
• control an output subprocessor, based on said post-test risk output, said subprocessor configured to report a diagnostic to the patient.