Analysis of a Deep Learning Model for 12-Lead ECG Classification Reveals Learned Features Similar to Diagnostic Criteria

Despite their remarkable performance, deep neural networks remain unadopted in clinical practice, which is considered to be partially due to their lack in explainability. In this work, we apply attribution methods to a pre-trained deep neural network (DNN) for 12-lead electrocardiography classification to open this "black box" and understand the relationship between model prediction and learned features. We classify data from a public data set and the attribution methods assign a "relevance score" to each sample of the classified signals. This allows analyzing what the network learned during training, for which we propose quantitative methods: average relevance scores over a) classes, b) leads, and c) average beats. The analyses of relevance scores for atrial fibrillation (AF) and left bundle branch block (LBBB) compared to healthy controls show that their mean values a) increase with higher classification probability and correspond to false classifications when around zero, and b) correspond to clinical recommendations regarding which lead to consider. Furthermore, c) visible P-waves and concordant T-waves result in clearly negative relevance scores in AF and LBBB classification, respectively. In summary, our analysis suggests that the DNN learned features similar to cardiology textbook knowledge.

The FeatureCloud AI Store for Federated Learning in Biomedicine and Beyond

Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have shown promising results in many areas and are driven by the increasing amount of available data. However, this data is often distributed across different institutions and cannot be shared due to privacy concerns. Privacy-preserving methods, such as Federated Learning (FL), allow for training ML models without sharing sensitive data, but their implementation is time-consuming and requires advanced programming skills. Here, we present the FeatureCloud AI Store for FL as an all-in-one platform for biomedical research and other applications. It removes large parts of this complexity for developers and end-users by providing an extensible AI Store with a collection of ready-to-use apps. We show that the federated apps produce similar results to centralized ML, scale well for a typical number of collaborators and can be combined with Secure Multiparty Computation (SMPC), thereby making FL algorithms safely and easily applicable in biomedical and clinical environments.