As automated ECG analysis has become commonplace, mastery of ECG interpretation in medical education programs has diminished markedly. Students must still appreciate the core fundamentals of electrocardiology, but training frequently does not expose many subtleties by often favoring many of the new heart imaging methods. Even some trained cardiologists may find their range of diagnostic interpretations to be somewhat limited when using the standard 12-lead electrocardiogram.

A new method of visual training using 3-D vector analysis makes ECG diagnosis much more intuitive and accurate for students and experienced clinicians alike. An instructional software program has been developed to improve electrocardiology training and provide a useful means to appreciate the spatial understanding of myocardial activation. This offers an easy way to acquire a clear, visual understanding of the sequence by which electrical excitation spreads through both the normal and diseased myocardium. The student becomes keenly aware of the cardiac excitation process through a series of 3D pictures during the excitation process.

The software available for Purchase on this Web site enables one to readily:

These 3-D images help the user to integrate the standard 12-lead ECG lead signals with the actual electrical excitation process of the myocardium, resulting in a clearer and more accurate visualization and understanding of the biological process.

Many of the world's leading cardiologists have long known that 3-D vector analysis is the only way to truly understand the electrocardiogram.

"The actual teaching of electrocardiography during the last two or three decades has failed because the person trying to learn is expected to memorize the shapes of abstract signals, called deflections, but may not understand their origin…. Accordingly, it is my opinion that the memorization of deflection shapes without understanding them is not the best way to interpret tracings. The best way to interpret tracings is to learn basic principles of electrocardiography, including vector concepts, and apply them to each tracing that is being interpreted. Without such an approach, people who memorize are helpless when they see tracings that they have not seen previously. In addition, unless basic principles - including vector concepts - are used to interpret each tracing, most persons will soon forget the basic principles." J. Willis Hurst, "Current Status of Clinical Electrocardiology With Suggestions for Improvement of the Interpretive Process" American Journal of Cardiology, Vol. 92, Nov.1, 2003.

3D Heart is an interactive instructional software program developed by ECG-TECH that uses a spatial presentation of ventricular activation to provide understanding about the basis for the generation of electrocardiographic waveforms. Using a 35-40 frame movie sequence, 3D Heart provides the user with an animated tutorial of left ventricular activation with text descriptions and vivid illustrations of the electrical activity of the heart and how it relates to the 12-lead ECG. The main screen of 3D Heart features a three-dimensional model of the left ventricle surrounded by three orthogonal planes with the six limb leads and six precordial leads superimposed in their respective planes. The user can control the progress of the movie sequence as well as the orientation of the display using a series of user controls located at the lower right portion of the screen (Figure I).