Deep Learning-Based Electrocardiogram Model (EIANet) to Predict Emergency Department Cardiac Arrest: Development and External Validation Study

Abstract

Background: In-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) is a severe and sudden medical emergency that is characterized by the abrupt cessation of circulatory function, leading to death or irreversible organ damage if not addressed immediately. Emergency department (ED)-based IHCA (EDCA) accounts for 10% to 20% of all IHCA cases. Early detection of EDCA is crucial, yet identifying subtle signs of cardiac deterioration is challenging. Traditional EDCA prediction methods primarily rely on structured vital signs or electrocardiogram (ECG) signals, which require additional preprocessing or specialized devices. This study introduces a novel approach using image-based 12-lead ECG data obtained at ED triage, leveraging the inherent richness of visual ECG patterns to enhance prediction and integration into clinical workflows.

Objective: This study aims to address the challenge of early detection of EDCA by developing an innovative deep learning model, the ECG-Image-Aware Network (EIANet), which uses 12-lead ECG images for early prediction of EDCA. By focusing on readily available triage ECG images, this research seeks to create a practical and accessible solution that seamlessly integrates into real-world ED workflows.

Methods: For adult patients with EDCA (cases), 12-lead ECG images at ED triage were obtained from 2 independent data sets: National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) and Far Eastern Memorial Hospital (FEMH). Control ECGs were randomly selected from adult ED patients without cardiac arrest during the same study period. In EIANet, ECG images were first converted to binary form, followed by noise reduction, connected component analysis, and morphological opening. A spatial attention module was incorporated into the ResNet50 architecture to enhance feature extraction, and a custom binary recall loss (BRLoss) was used to balance precision and recall, addressing slight data set imbalance. The model was developed and internally validated on the NTUH-ECG data set and was externally validated on an independent FEMH-ECG data set. The model performance was evaluated using the F₁-score, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), and area under the precision-recall curve (AUPRC).

Results: There were 571 case ECGs and 826 control ECGs in the NTUH data set and 378 case ECGs and 713 control ECGs in the FEMH data set. The novel EIANet model achieved an F₁-score of 0.805, AUROC of 0.896, and AUPRC of 0.842 on the NTUH-ECG data set with a 40% positive sample ratio. It achieved an F₁-score of 0.650, AUROC of 0.803, and AUPRC of 0.678 on the FEMH-ECG data set with a 34.6% positive sample ratio. The feature map showed that the region of interest in the ECG was the ST segment.

Conclusions: EIANet demonstrates promising potential for accurately predicting EDCA using triage ECG images, offering an effective solution for early detection of high-risk cases in emergency settings. This approach may enhance the ability of health care professionals to make timely decisions, with the potential to improve patient outcomes by enabling earlier interventions for EDCA.

Keywords: cardiac arrest; computer vision; deep learning; electrocardiogram; emergency department.

Figure 1

Overview of the proposed ECG-Image-Aware Network (EIANet) model. SA: spatial attention.

Figure 2

We inserted a spatial attention (SA) block after each layer and before the next layer.

Figure 3

Feature map of a National Taiwan University Hospital electrocardiogram (NTUH-ECG) sample with a spatial attention block.

Figure 4

Feature map of a National Taiwan University Hospital electrocardiogram (NTUH-ECG) sample without a spatial attention block.

Figure 5

Feature map of a Far Eastern Memorial Hospital electrocardiogram (FEMH-ECG) sample with a spatial attention block.

Figure 6

Feature map of a Far Eastern Memorial Hospital electrocardiogram (FEMH-ECG) sample without a spatial attention block.