arXiv AI

On the role of the tokenizer in ECG transformer models

The study investigates how different tokenization methods affect ECG Transformer models by comparing eight strategies across four backbone architectures on the CPSC2018 classification task. Physiology-aware tokenizations such as Median-beat and HeartLang achieve higher mean macro-AUCs (0.893 and 0.889) than point-wise and patch-wise approaches (0.822 and 0.824), while also reducing sequence length and training memory usage. Combining the two physiology-aware representations further improves macro-AUC by 8.2%.

arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 1

Beat-Synchronous Tokenization for ECG Transformers

arXiv:2608.30367v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Transformer-based electrocardiogram (ECG) models commonly tokenize waveforms into fixed temporal patches. Though convenient, fixed patching can split h...

By Ahmed Sameh, Nolan Wilson, Max Enderlein, Yogatheesan Varatharajah
arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 27

Autoregressive EHR Foundation Models with Multimodal Inputs

arXiv:2607. 22264v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Autoregressive foundation models trained on tokenized electronic health records (EHRs) can support zero-shot clinical prediction, yet most operate on structured event codes alone, and do not incorporate multiple modalities in a principled way.

By Yuxuan Liu, Joshua Placidi, Jinpei Han, Alfred John Balston, Marek Rei, A. Aldo Faisal
arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 31

ECG-InterpBench: Benchmarking the Interpretability of ECG Foundation Models with Matched-Scale Sparse Autoencoders

arXiv:2607. 27404v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Existing benchmarks for electrocardiogram foundation models primarily evaluate downstream predictive performance, providing limited insight into whether their internal representations can be faithfully decomposed, clinically interpreted, or reproduced across independent analyses.

By Yixuan Duan, Wei Qiu
arXiv AI
Aug 12

LVCG: Learning ECG Representations in the Latent Vectorcardiogram Space

arXiv:2605. 31249v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Electrocardiography (ECG) is a cornerstone of cardiac assessment, making the learning of informative ECG representations fundamental to tasks ranging from disease diagnosis to clinical report generation.

By Bosong Huang, Panzhen Zhao, Zengxiang Li, Patricia Lee, Wei Jin, Alan Wee-Chung Liew, Ming Jin, Shirui Pan
arXiv AI
1d ago

NeuroECG: ECGFounder-Based Deep ECG Representation for EEG-Free Neurological Prognostication After Cardiac Arrest

NeuroECG is a deep learning framework that repurposes a pretrained ECG foundation model to predict neurological outcomes after cardiac arrest without using electroencephalography (EEG). The model fine‑tunes the backbone with a gradual unfreezing strategy on single‑channel bedside ECG, aggregates multiple ECG segments via quantile pooling and PCA, and achieves an AUROC of 0.7333 using ECG alone. When combined with static clinical covariates, NeuroECG improves performance to an AUROC of 0.8077 and an AUPRC of 0.8970, demonstrating that bedside ECG can serve as a low‑cost, auxiliary prognostic tool in an EEG‑free setting.

By Jiaju Gao, Yi Zhao, Chenyang Xu, Yuxi Zhou, Hao Wang
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 5

LAEF: A Lead-Agnostic ECG Foundation Model Towards Point-of-Care Diagnostics

arXiv:2608. 03690v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Point-of-care cardiac devices such as smartwatches and handheld ECG recorders typically capture 1--2 leads, yet existing ECG foundation models are architecturally constrained to fixed 12-lead inputs, degrading or failing under these reduced configurations.

By Edoardo Coppola, Stefano Fiorini, Pietro Li\`o, Mattia Savardi, Alberto Signoroni
arXiv AI
Aug 7

ECG-LENS: Lead-Aware Clinical Context Enriched ECG Report Generation and Evaluation

arXiv:2608. 05893v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Electrocardiography (ECG) is one of the most widely used non-invasive tools for diagnosing cardiovascular disease, but transforming multi-lead ECG recordings into reliable clinical reports remains challenging.

By Akanta Das, Tasinul Islam Ahon, Ahmed Mahir Sultan Rumi, Md Mahbubur Rahman, Tausif Amim Shadly, Tanzima Hashem