Patent ID: 7076287

Claim:
A method for monitoring a patient for the presence of a new bundle branch block, comprising the steps of: acquiring current and previous electrocardiogram records at different times for a particular patient; determining that a new bundle branch block is present in said particular patient based on an automated comparison of data in said current and previous electrocardiogram records; automatically detecting that said particular patient belongs to a category of patients comprising patients identified to have a high probability of acute myocardial infarction; and automatically generating a diagnostic statement stating that the new bundle branch block may be due to acute myocardial infarction, wherein said automated comparison comprises the following steps: determining that said current electrocardiogram record comprises a diagnostic statement indicating the presence of a bundle branch block and determining that said previous electrocardiogram record does not comprise a diagnostic statement indicating the presence of a bundle branch block; computing a percentage change in a measurement relating to a bundle branch block criterion in said current and previous electrocardiogram records; and determining that said percentage change exceeds a first predetermined threshold.