Remote cardiac telemetry has taken giant leaps forward in recent years. Gone are the days when the only way to know if a patient was suffering from arrhythmias was to make them wear large, uncomfortable devices for several days.
Current cardiac monitoring technologies offer a variety of options with different functions. The fact that devices are becoming smaller and more comfortable for patients means that better monitoring is possible. There are 24-hour external Holter monitors (in different sizes and shapes) to measure heart rate on an ambulatory basis over several days, event recording devices, and wearable devices. Doctors may recommend subcutaneous implantable monitors to record heartbeats for at least three years in specific patient profiles, depending on clinical suspicion.
Is there a way to "beat" a disease and know if everything is going well with your heart? The answer is yes, and there are several options: smartwatches, specific devices, and even apps. Almost all focus on early detection of the most common arrhythmia in adulthood: atrial fibrillation (AF). Although it often presents asymptomatically, it consists of a rapid, irregular heart rate that may increase the risk of a stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related complications. It is the leading cause of stroke and costs healthcare millions. Early diagnosis can help to achieve an effective treatment.
Are you a healthy person who wants to monitor your heart preventively? These are some options.
Smartwatches: Apple Watch at the cutting edge
Smartwatches are already part of our lives. They make tasks easier, allow us to take calls quickly, are our "virtual trainers," and check the quality of our sleep. And they have a vital function that can save your life: monitoring your heart rate.
Starting with Series 4, the Apple Watch's ECG app can record your heartbeat and heart rhythm using an electrical sensor. So the phone records an electrocardiogram and checks the pulses to get your heart rate and see if the upper and lower chambers of your heart are in rhythm. If they are out of rhythm, it could be atrial fibrillation.
The Internet is full of anecdotes of people claiming that their Apple Watch heart monitoring saved their lives. People who had no symptoms or discomfort but whose heart rate readings showed abnormalities.
“I decided to randomly check my heartbeat to see what my resting BPM was using the Apple Watch. However, to my shock it was showing it was 140/150bpm (the average is between 70 to 100bpm). I thought this was a one off, but as the weeks progressed into months, I realized that my heart was never slowing down. Because of this, I had a blood test and it became clear that I have an overactive thyroid, so severe that my doctor said I could have had a heart attack at any moment. I am now on beta blockers and other medication which is slowing my heart down, thankfully.” (Source: TechRadar)
Echocardiograms performed by smartphones accurately measure most baseline intervals, have acceptable sensitivity and specificity for pathological rhythms - especially for atrial fibrillation - and are, therefore, accepted as a screening device for pathological rhythms.
KardiaMobile: FDA-certified portable echocardiogram
It is not only smartwatches that can measure heart rate. There are many devices on the market dedicated exclusively to providing heart rate readings with highly sensitive sensors. One of the best positioned is KardiaMobile, manufactured by the company AliveCor. This device has the advantage of being clinically validated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to detect atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, and tachycardia.
KardiaMobile is a small, simple-to-use device: patients place their fingers on the sensors, which captures a medical-grade electrocardiogram within 30 seconds. All the data gets recorded via a cellphone app and sent to the doctor. According to a study by the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, comparative tests showed that KardiaMobile could detect more cardiac arrhythmias and can do so more quickly than standard care. Diagnostic accuracy studies (with different reference standards) showed that KardiaMobile's sensitivity ranged from 77.0% to 96.6%, and specificity ranged from 76.0% to 99.1% in detecting cardiac arrhythmias.
For patients with atrial fibrillation, such devices may be a more convenient and less expensive alternative to traditional methods like Holter monitors or mobile ambulatory cardiac telemetry, which - although often covered by insurance - require the use of electrodes or patches.
Every KardiaMobile purchase comes with free basic features that include unlimited ECG recording, automatic analysis to know if atrial fibrillation is instantly detected, and the option to email the ECG to a doctor. It also offers a paid subscription, which offers unlimited history and cloud storage of all ECG recordings, automatic ECG sharing, and a monthly ECG summary report to share with your physician.
Can't buy a dedicated device or smartwatch? Your phone can do ECGs too
The Valencian startup Rhitmi created the Flash Check application to perform arrhythmia tests using only your cellphone's camera and flash. The technology is called photoplethysmography, and measures the intensity of light reflected by the skin's surface using a photosensor, which converts it into an equivalent voltage. This way it can determine the blood volume of a specific area at any given moment, obtaining the cardiac cycle by measuring the interval between each voltage peak.
The app was cleared by the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices as medical software for the detection of cardiac arrhythmias, after more than four years of research. It was tested with positive results with patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation at La Fe Hospital in Valencia, and Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona.
It works very easily: users open the app and select the "Perform a test" option, automatically turning on the flashlight. The next step is placing the index finger for 30 seconds, and the app will provide a reading.
Remember: no device is a substitute for medical care
Remember: no device is a substitute for medical care. The purpose of these apps and devices that perform an electrocardiogram is to alert people early to go to the doctor. A timely check-up can prevent significant ailments, and in many cases, patients are asymptomatic for a long time. Early diagnosis of pathologies such as atrial fibrillation can lead to a timely treatment to avoid complications such as stroke, offer a better quality of life, and effective treatments such as pulmonary vein cryoablation.
An irregular heart rhythm reading can be the clue needed to discover a nascent disease and remedy it in time.
Comentarios