Kardia and Atrial Flutter

I just spoke to the AliveCor helpline and they said that Kardia would probably show “unclassified” in the event of there being atrial flutter and would pick up some sort of trace of flutter. This is not the same as it’s having an algorithm to detect flutter, but is still very useful. Has anyone actually picked shown a Kardia ECG to a doctor or cardiologist and they have identified atrial flutter on it?

[BobD Volunteer]

Flutter is v ery easy to see on a 12 lead as a saw tooth pattern.

[Finvola]

Yes, I was very surprised when both my EP and cardiologist said the (different) Kardia traces which I showed them were AFlutter. Something must have been present in traces with a heartrate of 110-130bpm. My flutter was said to be Flecainide-induced.

[Hidden in reply to Finvola]

That shows that Kardia can indeed pick up flutter.

[Palpman in reply to Finvola]

I take Flecainide for my AFlutter and have been flutter free for 18 months.It can cause AFib as a side effect.

Patients taking it for AFib can get AFlutter as a side effect strangely.

So taking Flecainide for one arrhythmia can cause another.

[CDreamer in reply to Palpman]

Exactly my experience.

[KMRobbo in reply to Palpman]

Happened to me. 10 months on flecainide, Had afib, had an ablation for afib which stopped it, 9 days later developed reentrant atrial flutter.Unfortunately flutter must not be always be that obvious as when I went back to A&E (on verbal advice of my EP), I was diagnosed initially as AFIB, and they INCREASED the flecainide dose from 50 twice daily to 100 in order to cardiovert me, and my symptoms got worse! That was within a 12 lead.

A later ECG confirmed AFlutter.

[wilsond in reply to Palpman]

Yep happened to me !

[Buffafly]

My GP thought he saw flutter but I thought it was a shaky recording! My cardiologist and EP could definitely see more than AF on my Kardia recordings.

[Hidden in reply to Buffafly]

I just spoke to AliveCor in the US and they say that whilst Kardia would not identify flutter by name (as it would with AF) it would pick up the characteristic flutter pattern and probably show this as “unclassified”. If this is so, it seems unlikely that I have flutter since I took a reading this morning and the GP said it didn’t show flutter.

[Palpman]

I would just like to clear a possible misunderstanding here.I did not confirm Kardia"s diagnoses of the ECG.

I gave my thoughts to the op on her ECG and this was confirmed by Kardia.

It is not my place to confirm ECG diagnosis by professionals nor do I have the knowledge to do so.

[Hidden in reply to Palpman]

Fair enough! I have edited out that reference in the earlier post.

[CDreamer]

Yes - very easy to identify - what Bob said.

[Sfhmgusa]

I think that it shows to an experienced reader if ecg’s the condition but it doesn’t “ say” this is flutter. My Kardia traces were all my EP needed to be sure ( as Bob said saw tooth pattern)

Mostly my Kardia called it possible afib

[Beffohol]

I have a Snap ECG ...Similar to Kardia...and yes it shows when I have an arterial flutter and yes both me and my husband have used readouts as evidence for GP/cardiologist....they are being recognised more and more

[mjames1]

Kardia produces a very good quality single or six lead tracing. So, yes it definitely can pick up flutter, but it's algorithms are limited, so only an ep, or perhaps a knowledgeable patient will have to read and interpret the tracing. That said, both single and six lead ecg's are limited and aflutter cannot always be definitively distinguished from afib or other tachycardia's, at least according to several ep's I've shown my tracing's to. As to the "saw tooth" pattern, flutter does not always present itself that way.

[Hidden in reply to mjames1]

Thanks for this very useful information.

[pablojack]

In my case I did not need Kardia or ECG to identify flutter. When not in flutter my resting bpm was 46 so not measurable with kardia, When in flutter my bpm was a steady 150 regardless whether I was resting or running 5 miles on a treadmill.