Whilst studying for his PhD at Glasgow, Peter’s Professor of Mathematics said that the Department of Cardiology at the Royal Infirmary was interested in automating the analysis of electrocardiograms, (the electrical activity of the heart recorded with electrodes on the body surface). Whilst studying how to do this, Peter learned about work in the USA on ECGs using a new laboratory desktop computer made by DEC called the PDP-8.
The team at Glasgow started using the PDP-8 to digitise ECGs and developed software with Siemens. Soon the project needed to expand to more machines and Peter got in touch with Geoff Shingles at DEC to see if they would help. DEC did, especially as their manufacturing plant at Ayr wasn’t that far away. The team continued this work using PDP-11s and had a close working relationship with DEC, especially through Geoff and John Barrett.
With the availability of bedside ECG machines in the 1980s, 1989 Peter and his team were able to start the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study. The study ran for six years with ECG machines all over the West of Scotland transmitting in to the centre, and showed that statins did, in fact, decrease the probability of having a heart attack.