Medicalgoritmics touts online ECG monitoring study data
Cardiac monitoring company Medicalgorithmics this week touted results from a study comparing online versus offline electrocardiogram methods for detecting paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, touting that the diagnostic yield for its PocketECG online monitoring system was higher than fixed 24 and 48-hour Holter and multi-day patch methods.
Results were presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society in Boston.
Researchers in the study examined data from 16,595 cardiac telemetry reports recorded during 2016 using the PocketECG and compared it to simulated offline methods using 24 and 48 hour Holter readings and multi-day patches. Investigators aimed to use the reports from the PocketECG to determine monitoring duration required to detect the first AF episode for various AF burdens.
For patients with an AF burden of less than or equal to 1%, monitoring with the online device produced a diagnostic yield six times higher than the first 24 hours of Holter monitoring and 3.5 times higher than the first 48 hours of Holter monitoring. Diagnostic yields with the online device were 36% higher than monitoring across the first 11 days with offline patches, and 14% higher than monitoring during the first 18 days with offline patches.
For patients with an AF burden of less than or equal to 10%, the diagnostic yield with the online device was four times higher than the first 24 hours of Holter monitoring and 2.5 times higher than the first 48 hours of Holter monitoring. Diagnostic yields with the online device were 25% higher than monitoring across the first 11 days with offline patches, and 10% higher than monitoring during the first 18 days with offline patches.
“Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation is an arrhythmia that is often difficult to detect because of its episodic nature but presents real health risks to patients. This large-scale study demonstrated that the ability to shorten or extend monitoring duration based on the ongoing results transmitted by online ECG monitoring can improve diagnostic yield over fixed offline methods,” lead author and PocketECG inventor Marek Dzuibinski said in a press release.