Went for a routine ECG yesterday and was asked if I would join a trial on a new machine. The study is termed 'Six Lead detection of Atrial Fibrillation - SL - AF Study' The machine is called CardiocityRhythmPadGP and is a smallish box/monitor and three leads. You are connected up with three leads with simple Velcro bands - one to each upper arm and one to an ankle. A lot simpler and easier - and less undressing than the 12 lead ECG one normally has and no sticky pads to peel off!
All quite interesting. I wonder if they might be available to GPs eventually? Has anyone else come across this yet?
David
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Dadog
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Hi David, I borrowed one of these from the inventor last year for Heart Rhythm Week when I did about 85 random tests on members of the public and Rosy used one for their shopping mall day. Where did you test happen?
That's interesting, Bob. This happened at St Peters Hospital, Chertsey in Cardiology and was being trialled alongside normal ECG. They were able to compare with the normal ECG reading.
One big advantage was that I got a free car park ticket for my trouble!
Hi David - That sounds an easier way to record the heart rate. My surgery have just obtained a new ECG machine, but I can't remember how many leads it had. The nurses had to be retrained on how to use it, so something must have been very different. I think they still had to use sticky pads, so can't be the same as the one you are trialling.
In its simplest use, one merely places the hands on the rhythm pad and it records. The extra leads as in your case David are an extension of the original concept and give slightly better results. This is not likely to be available to the public like Alivecor but is generally more reliable and designed to be an add-on for GPs IT systems. Somewhere on AF-A photo archive is a picture of me at House of Commons some years ago looking like Frankenstein with wrist and ankle straps attached for a similar device but I don't know what became of that idea which used four bands.
Quite an interesting web site at cardiocity.com where they show the RhythmPad but maybe this newer device is still trialling, as it isn't mentioned anywhere. The blurb I was given to take away with me mentions 6 lead so I assume there are two leads in each of the three attaching cables but I'm not very clever on this technology.
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Normal ECG and heartbeat
What AF looks like on an ECG
Simple guide to reading ECGs. 
