Usefulness of a smartphone-based event recorder for ambulatory patients presenting with palpitations

Background Palpitations are a common complaint among patients seen by primary care physicians (16%). Recent technological advances have led to several novel electrocardiographic monitoring devices. AliveCor Kardia Mobile® (AliveCor, Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) is a smartphone-based event recorder that allows take an electrocardiogram (ECG) recording during 30 seconds. The usefulness of this device has been studied in atrial fibrillation screening, however, its usefulness in the diagnosis of palpitations is not well known. Objective Evaluate the diagnostic yield of the AliveCor Kardia Mobile® device in unselected patients referred to the cardiologist for the study of palpitations. Methods Uni-centre retrospective study. From September 2018 to October 2020, consecutive patients with palpitations referred to cardiology department were included. After an initial evaluation it was decided monitoring ECG of these patients with this device if they had access to a compatible smartphone. They were instructed to record ECG when they had symptoms. ECG tracings and clinical characteristics were analysed. Results 152 patients were included. Mean age 42±15 years, 68% female. Most of the patients did not have heart disease and about 25% had a history of anxiety-depressive syndrome (Table 1). After monitoring, 31 (20%) patients had rhythm disturbances during symptoms, 82 (54%) patients had no rhythm disturbances related to the symptoms and 39 (26%) patients had no symptoms. Table 2 shows the electrocardiographic findings. Patients with palpitations of arrhythmic origin were older and presented less anxiety/depression (Table 1). Age was the only independent predictor of palpitations of arrhythmic origin (OR, × year: 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.06; p=0.035). Conclusions The AliveCor Kardia Mobile® device is easy to use and diagnosed the aetiology of palpitations in a high proportion of patients (74%) referred for specialist evaluation. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Smart Wearables for Cardiac Monitoring—Real-World Use beyond Atrial Fibrillation

The possibilities and implementation of wearable cardiac monitoring beyond atrial fibrillation are increasing continuously. This review focuses on the real-world use and evolution of these devices for other arrhythmias, cardiovascular diseases and some of their risk factors beyond atrial fibrillation. The management of nonatrial fibrillation arrhythmias represents a broad field of wearable technologies in cardiology using Holter, event recorder, electrocardiogram (ECG) patches, wristbands and textiles. Implementation in other patient cohorts, such as ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), heart failure or sleep apnea, is feasible and expanding. In addition to appropriate accuracy, clinical studies must address the validation of clinical pathways including the appropriate device and clinical decisions resulting from the surrogate assessed.

Establishing a Smartphone Ambulatory ECG Service for Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department with Pre-Syncope and Palpitations

Background and Objectives: The IPED study showed that a smartphone-based event recorder increased the number of patients in whom an ECG was captured during symptoms over five-fold to more than 55% at 90 days compared to standard care [1] and concluded that this safe, non-invasive and easy to use device should be considered part of on-going care to all patients presenting acutely with unexplained palpitations or pre-syncope. This study reports the process of establishing a smartphone palpitation and pre-syncope service. Materials and Methods: A clinical Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was devised, and funding was secured through a business case for the purchase of 40 AliveCor devices in the first instance. The clinic was launched on 22nd July 2019. Results: Between 22nd July 2019 and 31st October 2019, 68 patients seen in the ED with palpitations or pre-syncope were referred to SPACC. 30 were male and 38 female and mean age was 45.8 (SD 15.1) with a range from 18 to 80 years. 50 (74%) patients underwent full investigation. 7 (11%) patients were deemed on first assessment to have non-cardiac palpitations and were not fitted with the device. All patients who underwent full investigation achieved symptomatic rhythm correlation most with sinus rhythm, ventricular ectopics or bigeminy. A symptomatic cardiac dysrhythmia was detected in 6 (8.8%) patients. 3 patients had supraventricular tachycardia; SVT (4%), 2 had atrial fibrillation (3%) and 1 atrial flutter (2%). Qualitative feedback from the SPACC team suggested several areas where improvement to the clinic could be made. Conclusion: We believe a smartphone palpitation service based in ambulatory care is simple to implement and is effective at detecting cardiac dysrhythmia in ED palpitation patients.

A Normative Supervisor for Reinforcement Learning Agents

We introduce a modular and transparent approach for augmenting the ability of reinforcement learning agents to comply with a given norm base. The normative supervisor module functions as both an event recorder and real-time compliance checker w.r.t. an external norm base. We have implemented this module with a theorem prover for defeasible deontic logic, in a reinforcement learning agent that we task with playing a “vegan” version of the arcade game Pac-Man.

Rescue operation retrieving an incorrectly implanted cardiac event recorder from the left main pulmonary artery

Continuous heart rhythm monitoring with cardiac event recorders is increasing in clinical practice and may be helpful in diagnosing a wide range of disorders and pathologies. This case study describes the case of an 80-year-old female patient with a medical history of previous cardiac surgery in which a cardiac event recorder had to be retrieved from the left main pulmonary artery.

Pulmonary vein isolation in a patient with congenital pulmonary atresia: a case report

Background Tetralogy of Fallot is a congenital heart defect characterized by pulmonary valve stenosis, ventricular septal defect (VSD), overriding aorta, and right ventricular hypertrophy. In its’ extreme form, the pulmonary valve orifice does not develop during organogenesis, resulting in pulmonary atresia. We report a case of catheter ablation of symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF) in a 37-year-old patient with congenital pulmonary atresia. Case summary The young man described paroxysmal tachycardia correlating to AF episodes in the previously implanted event recorder. Computed tomography scan described the complex anatomy with congenital pulmonary atresia, VSD, and major aortopulmonary collateral arteries. Electroanatomical mapping revealed typical pulmonary vein electrograms in a hypotrophic left atrium. Modified pulmonary vein isolation was successfully performed and non-excitability of the ablation line was reached. The patient recovered uneventfully and event recorder interrogation showed no AF recurrence after 3 months. Discussion Incidence of pulmonary atresia is low. Untreated survival rate is 50% after 1 year and 8% after 10 years. Tachycardia is a major cause of increased morbidity and mortality in patients with cyanotic congenital heart defects and pulmonary vein foci are described as driver for AF. Considerations preceding catheter ablation included pathophysiological mechanism, complex anatomy, atypical left atrium access, and reduced pulmonary perfusion resulting in a hypotrophic left atrium. Pulmonary veins showed typical electrograms, and isolation of pulmonary veins was feasible without adverse events.