Reconstruction of 12-lead ECG: a review of algorithms

Purpose This paper aims to review the literature on 12-lead ECG reconstruction, highlight various algorithmic approaches and evaluate their predictive strengths. In addition, it investigates the implications of performing reconstruction in particular ways.Methods This narrative review analysed 39 works on the reconstruction of 12-lead ECGs, focusing on the algorithms used for reconstruction and the results gotten from using these algorithms.Results The works analysed featured the use of as little as one lead and as much as four leads for reconstruction of the other leads. Linear and nonlinear (including artificial intelligence) algorithms showed promising performances. Their outputs had correlations of greater than 0.90 depending on how the reconstruction models were built.Conclusion Three leads are optimal as input predictors for minimal reconstruction errors, but there is no universal algorithm that applies to every reconstruction task. Both linear and nonlinear algorithms can achieve high correlations, and minimal root means square errors. Hence, planned steps are needed when deciding how to manipulate the data and build the models to achieve high accuracies.