The 12-lead mobile ECG
CardioSecur, a personalised mobile 12-lead ECG system with four electrodes for iPhone and iPad, enables patients to monitor their symptoms and transmit the data to their physicians in less than a minute.
The system is reported to be ideal for patients with intermittent, difficult to diagnose cardiac symptoms and those who are still symptomatic post-intervention. This also could be use as a tool to monitor drug safety, the manufacturer points out.
‘The patient records a reference ECG reading while sitting calmly with no symptoms. When symptoms occur, the patient takes a control ECG reading for 10 seconds, which is compared to the reference reading. An instant assessment of rhythm, heart rate and perfusion status is performed, see image 2.
The ECG data is uploaded to a database accessible by the patient’s physician immediately, so that viewing the 12-lead ECG data is at the exact moment of the cardiac event (image 1).
In the REDUCE-Trial (Revealing timely ECG changes Decreases the likelihood of Undesirable Cardiac Events-Trial) by ZNA Middelheim, Belgium, 51 patients were given the mobile 12-lead ECG system for a period of three months to record their ECG weekly and when they experienced symptoms. Medical conditions included: recurrent palpitations of unknown origin (41.2%), atypical chest pain (33,3%), angina pectoris (13.7%) and tachycardias of unknown origin (11.8%).
1,237 ECG readings were recorded and CardioSecur diagnosed a new or undiagnosed condition in 10% of the patients. Four were diagnosed with arrhythmias: two with atrial fibrillation; one with monofocal ventricular premature beats with bi- and trigeminia; one with AV nodal re-entry tachycardia.
One ischaemic patient was advised by CardioSecur to make a doctor’s appointment during a control reading. The patient was subsequently diagnosed with a sten-osis of 90%.
All patients received timely and appropriate treatment due to the availability of precise remote 12-lead ECG data at the time of the event.
The study indicates that Cardio-Secur is an important tool for diagnosing and managing patients with cardiac diseases such as rhythm disturbances and ischemic episodes, the manufacturer reports, adding that this paper will be presented in Barcelona this August during the 2014 ESC congress.
02.09.2014
