Portable 60-Second ECG
Engineering360 News Desk | February 27, 2017A portable electrocardiograph (ECG) unit provides cardiovascular pre-diagnosis for the user in less than 60 seconds without the help of healthcare professionals.
Cardiovascular indicators viewed on the screen of a mobile device.The prototype developed and patented by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain, measures both the electrical activity of the heart and the arterial pulse wave, an indicator of arterial elasticity.
Measurements are made as the user’s hands or feet make contact with two metal sensors. These sensors can also be integrated into a mobile phone or tablet case, watch strap, bathroom scale, steering wheel, or any wireless technology device that can be picked up, held, and touched with either hands or feet at the same time.
The diagnostic data are claimed to be more accurate than those offered by existing devices and can be communicated to medical professionals from any place where there is mobile phone coverage.
I don't think physicians are going to get very excited about this. It is true that the pulse wave velocity correlates with arterial stiffness, which itself is an indicator of arterial disease, but the "gold standard* of pulse wave velocity measurement is the determination at carotid and femoral sites.
It would be more impressive if this device were presented at a medical rather than an engineering meeting.