A methodology for the analysis of medical data

Imagine a subject going to the clinic for a medical diagnosis, for example to assess the functionality of his cardiovascular system. The doctor requests a number of clinical tests (for example, stress test to obtain the electro-cardiogram (ECG) and Doppler ultrasound), takes into account a number of other factors (for example the demographics of the subject), and makes his final diagnosis using the current data and his prior knowledge. For his diagnosis, the doctor will usually compute somecharacteristicsof the original raw signal. For example, when the raw signal is the ECG, clinicians may want to use the mean heart rate or the heart rate variability (these characteristics may also be readily provided by medical software) because experience has taught them these characteristics are useful in diagnosis.