ECG Center (EpiCare)

Ronald Prineas, PhD, Unit Leader

EPICARE's ECG center offers competitively priced research laboratory technology for receipt and processing of electrocardiograms. EPICARE's ECG receiving area consists of GE Medical Systems Information Technologies (GEMSIT) MAC5000 units. ECG units in use at the recording sites are the MAC1200 and MAC5000 (latest model) units, which can record or transmit (nationally and internationally) by telephone, radio, or satellite to any one of hundreds of central processing and reading centers. For clinic centers at present, GEMSIT MAC 1200 units are the preferred electrocardiographs if new equipment is to be bought because of the ease of use and portability of these units for digital recording and transmission of ECGs.

Hard copy (paper) ECGs are processed visually from any standard electrocardiograph meeting the American College of Cardiology's standards for electrocardiographs. However, sole reliance on visual coding for scheduled baseline and follow-up records would preclude the ability to identify ECG evidence of many ischemic and autonomic cardiac pathologies related to many disease states, including toxicity, ischemia, and diabetes. Such studies require accurate, repeatable measures of ECG wave durations and voltage deflections that can best be delivered by digitally analyzed ECGs. Visual Coding processes utilize Visual Basic front-end data entry forms with SQL Server 2000 databases.

EPICARE has a variety of flexible computing platforms designed to accommodate various study requirements. The primary computing platform for the electronic processing of raw ECG data is a DELL PowerEdge 2950 server with over 400+ gigabytes of RAID storage capacity. Reporting and analysis is also done on this platform utilizing PC-SAS. The file server houses the GE RSW Research Workstation (software implemented in 1999) ECG database, which is the core of EPICARE's digital processing. This system further enhances EPICARE's ability to manage, query, and report large amounts of ECG data, allowing full utilization of the Minnesota Code and Novacode ECG Classification System. Most of our newest Novacode and MC serial change software development utilizes the UNIX and NT environment and is written in C++. The latest GEMSIT MUSE® v7 Cardiology Information System is in development and will be placed into production by the summer of 2007. This platform, with over 1.2 terabytes of storage, will be utilized for new studies.

EPICARE has access to the Division of Public Health Science's UNIX servers. These platforms support most standard reporting and research computing using SAS. All computer systems are incorporated into the Division of Public Health Science's Legato tape backup system.

EPICARE's Data Processing team includes two full-time Analyst/Programmers, two Computer ECG operators/technicians, and a full-time data entry coordinator. This Data Processing team excels in meeting the different file layout and processing requirements that a particular study may require.

The EPICARE Center is located on the 5th floor of the Piedmont Plaza II building on First and Miller Streets in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The suite has a total of 4,100 sq.ft. The suite has an equipment room which houses the electronic ECG receiving stations, which are monitored continuously by the Computer ECG technicians of the center.