The PTB at the Interhospital in Hannover from May 12 to 15, 1998

The Interhospital '98 - the international trade fair for hospital and outpatient treatment - will be held in Hannover from May 12 to 15, 1998. Approximately 1.400 exhibitors from more than 40 countries will offer a complete survey of latest developments in the field of investment and consumer goods and of their services for hospitals, rehabilitation and homes. In addition, the 21st "German Day of the Hospital" which is held concurrently with the fair, will offer a great number of events dealing with subjects of current interest regarding health policy and hospital work.

The fair will again present the special show "clinic vision" which last year had its successful première. On the stand coordinated by Berlin Technical University, top exhibits from research and development and innovations from the most different fields of medical technology and from the whole hospital sector will be presented. It is the aim of this special show to promote the dialogue between scientists, developers and users.

The PTB will take part in this special show of Interhospital for the first time. Members of the "Bioelectricity and Biomagnetism" Section of the Medical Physics Department of the PTB's Berlin Institute will present a new method for deriving diagnostic information from an electrocardiogram (ECG). In contrast to conventional ECG signal analyses, this method is not based on the determination of amplitudes and periods of the ECG, but on a comparison between ECG signal patterns with unknown diagnosis and ECGs from a data base, whose diagnosis is known and which have been stored in the data base. The method starts from the hypothesis that ECGs whose signal patterns are in good agreement can almost certainly be assigned to the same diagnosis.

The success of this pattern comparison method depends on the efficiency of the correlation algorithms and on the quality of the ECG data base as far as signal quality, the reflection of the variety of cardiological illnesses and exact findings are concerned.

In connection with this new method, the PTB's ECG signal data base CARDIODAT will be presented. It has been established for the testing of automatically evaluating ECG devices, for scientific research and medical training. Access to this data base is possible via CD or internet.

The structure of the data base, the ways of how to get access to it, and its use for ECG signal analysis will be demonstrated.