Kardia 6l and old Kardia together

[Finvola]

I have used my faithful old style Kardia since 2013 and have just ordered a new 6l version. I aim to use both models on my iPad Air - the old one for an easy overview and the new one for more in-depth reporting.

If anyone uses both recorders on the same device, can you tell me if I need to take any precautions to avoid the new app for the 6l over-writing the old one and mucking up the function of the old style Kardia?

[mjames1]

The software is well integrated to take multiple Kardia devices. Look at the very top menu and you can choose which device you are using at the time. For reporting purposes, all of the EKGs will be there from the different devices.

Jim

[Finvola in reply to mjames1]

Thanks Jim - that's what I wanted to know.

[mjames1 in reply to Finvola]

Simple tutorial --

1. First Press "record your ekg"

2. On top of the next page, choose which Kardiadevice you will be using to take your EKG from the pulldown menu.

3. If you're going to use the 6L, choose from the bottom menu, whether you want to do a single lead ekg (fingers only) or a six lead (fingers and knee or ankle)

4. Now take your EKG.

The software defaults to the last settings you used, so most of the time you don't have to do anything.

This may sound more complicated than it is. but after the first couple of times, the whole process takes just a couple of seconds.

Jim

[Finvola in reply to mjames1]

Great info - thank you so much.

[Ppiman]

An excellent and useful article. Thank you.

Steve

[FanOfPatterns]

Hi,

I have a KardiaMobile 6L. You can use it in 1L mode for a quick and easy reading. I’ve found it has taken a lot of practice to get fairly good 6L readings. Often there are very erratic readings for short periods. I guess they are artifacts, but documentation on this is very limited.

I am fairly hairy, which makes it hard to get good readings at my knees and near my ankle. I am slowly developing a technique that seems to work fairly well. I slowly move the back of the KardiaMobile over the top of my left foot, away from my angle. This seems to work fairly well if done firmly and slowly.. Stopping when I get all 3 lights on the iphone showing a promising recording. It’s good to practice in 1L mode first where you only need your thumbs. Quicker and easier.

Good luck

[Finvola in reply to FanOfPatterns]

Thank you Fan - my 6L arrived today and I'm disappointed that Kardia got it wrong on their website that it will work with iOS 10.3.3 upwards. It doesn't but needs iOS 13 minimum which my ancient iPad cannot load. So, I'm trying to use it with my Android phone (which I hate).

I found the 1L very straightforward but the 6L looked drunken to say the least, so thanks for the advice - I'll work at it. Good advice to practice on 1L - will do that as the 6L is for my husband who is newly diagnosed and needs some in-depth traces for his cardiologist.

Again, thanks for the advice.

[FanOfPatterns]

Hi Finvola,

Yes, I find the KardiaMobile 6L gives some VERY disconcerting traces!! I keep meaning to contact them for better explanations of what is going on. I suspect it could get very technical. I guess they ignore some of the crazier bits of a trace and smooth out ( or enhance) the basic pattern before presenting it.

I find it interesting how at the start of monitoring, when it thinks a trace is workable, that after a while, sometimes up to 5 seconds or so, it shows a detailed unsmoothed trace and then changes to a smoothed trace. When I review the trace, it is all ( from the start) shown as smoothed, unless I request enhanced setting is turned off.

I also find that looking at the pdf view of the traces spaces out the lines better and makes it easier to see what is going on. This is particularly relevant since when there are dramatic artifacts, they often affect 5 of the 6 traces and it can be hard to see what is going on.

I find that usually, line I is fairly regular. This leads me to believe the usual problem is not connectivity to either of my thumbs, but to my ankle or knee. This ties in with how much easier it is to get a 1L recording.

Note 6L means 6 leads, which actually means 6 views of the data. There are only 3 physical connections ( or leads), Lines I, II and III are based on raw data from the 3 connections. The other 3 lines, aVR, aVL and aVF are derived from simple calculations based on the values of lines I,II and III.

I’m not a cardiologist or a cardiac electrophysiologist. I do have a background in computer based image processing. Analysing ECGs is very different to the work I did many years ago, but many fundamental principles are similar. So, I’ve been very interested in how all this works. I have even take some screen recordings ( and screenshots) to show what odd behaviour I have observed.

I’ll be interested in other people’s experiences of recording their own ECGs, what guidance they have found helpful to reduce artifacts and their experiences of talking with the companies producing their consumer ECG device and with cardiac electrophysiologists.

I believe there is a lot more work needed to make these consumer grade ECGs of real, practical value to Doctors, Consultants and Cardiac Electrophysiologists. There needs to be much better standardisation of the technologies involved and how the data is processed so this technology doesn’t unnecessarily increase demands on an already very stretched NHS.

I hope all this is helpful.

[Finvola in reply to FanOfPatterns]

Very helpful and interesting too. I guessed that an algorithm was involved somehow in producing 6 traces from 3 electrodes but I do have an awful lot to learn - and some serious practice when trying to balance the device on my knee.

Modern computing has left me somewhat behind in practicalities but the essence is still there, as you say. Your area has changed so much from its tentative beginnings to the widespread uses - facial recognition fascinates me. I taught programming in the days when Pascal and COBOL were considered to be quite cool and I often feel that modern user interfaces could be better standardised to help rather than hinder the user in some cases. Finding the save button is one of my bugbears.

Thank you for your thoughts - I think the drunken wobbles on my traces are my clumsy use but there might be artifacts as well - would hate to show my efforts to my cardiologist!