Novel electrogram device with web-based service centre for ambulatory ECG monitoring

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Devices
• Digital Health

Background:

• Intermittent arrhythmias often require prolonged monitoring beyond standard ECGs.
• Novel ambulatory ECG devices aim to improve diagnostic accuracy for elusive cardiac arrhythmias.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic utility of the HeartWave500 (HW), a novel web-based ambulatory ECG monitoring system.
• To compare the effectiveness of HW against standard transtelephonic (TT) event recorders.

Main Methods:

• A prospective randomized trial involving 120 patients at the National Heart Centre, Singapore.
• Patients were assigned to either HW (n=87) or TT (n=33) for two weeks of monitoring.
• Diagnostic yield was assessed by time to diagnosis and new diagnoses per patient per week.

Main Results:

• Both HW and TT achieved similar diagnostic yields, with 67.8% and 66.7% of patients diagnosed, respectively.
• HW demonstrated significantly earlier ECG review times (18 minutes vs. 1107 minutes) and lower unreadable recording rates (8.0% vs. 17.6%).
• A trend towards a higher number of diagnoses per patient per week was observed for TT in Week 2, though not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

• HeartWave500 (HW) and transtelephonic (TT) event recorders offer comparable diagnostic yields for arrhythmias.
• HW's web-based transmission, rapid data review, and reduced unreadable data present it as a valuable alternative to traditional TT monitoring.