Application of federated learning techniques for arrhythmia classification using 12-lead ECG signals

Abstract: Artificial Intelligence-based (AI) analysis of large, curated medical datasets is promising for providing early detection, faster diagnosis, and more effective treatment using low-power Electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring devices information. However, accessing sensitive medical data from diverse sources is highly restricted since improper use, unsafe storage, or data leakage could violate a person's privacy. This work uses a Federated Learning (FL) privacy-preserving methodology to train AI models over heterogeneous sets of high-definition ECG from 12-lead sensor arrays collected from six heterogeneous sources. We evaluated the capacity of the resulting models to achieve equivalent performance compared to state-of-the-art models trained in a Centralized Learning (CL) fashion. Moreover, we assessed the performance of our solution over Independent and Identical distributed (IID) and non-IID federated data. Our methodology involves machine learning techniques based on Deep Neural Networks and Long-Short-Term Memory models. It has a robust data preprocessing pipeline with feature engineering, selection, and data balancing techniques. Our AI models demonstrated comparable performance to models trained using CL, IID, and non-IID approaches. They showcased advantages in reduced complexity and faster training time, making them well-suited for cloud-edge architectures.