GE Healthcare Korea and DeepCardio said Tuesday they signed an agreement to jointly develop AI-based electrocardiogram (ECG) diagnosis technology and an ECG data analysis program.

The two companies will combine GE Healthcare’s ECG data management system MUSE and DeepCardio’s AI technology in ECG to develop AI-based ECG diagnosis, build ECG big data, and commercialize related products.

DeepCardio was founded in 2020 by professors Kim Dae-hyeok and Baek Yong-su of cardiology at Inha University Hospital, professor Choi Won-ik of information and communication engineering at Inha University, and professor Lee Sang-cheol of computer engineering at the same university.

DeepCardio specializes in AI-backed cardiac diagnosis. The company has a patent on the “method for predicting paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in normal sinus rhythm ECG state using deep learning.”

The two companies plan to utilize deep learning analysis, prediction, and big data accumulated in GE’s MUSE solution to predict and diagnose paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, which is difficult to diagnose with conventional ECG.

Yim Ye-taek, leader of Life Care Solution at GE Healthcare Korea, said he was pleased to work with DeepCardio, an ECG AI technology development venture firm.

“We hope that GE Healthcare's leading ECG solution and DeepCardio's AI technology will create synergy to provide more precise and efficient solutions for physicians and arrhythmia patients.”

Kim Dae-hyeok, CEO of DeepCardio, said the collaboration with GE Healthcare is expected to help predict, diagnose, and treat atrial fibrillation and arrhythmia and make a new paradigm in heart diseases.