Mysterious AliveCor Mobile ECG artifact noted at Commander's Palace

The skeptical cardiologist was in New Orleans last  weekend. There is no breaking low carb news to report but I did make it to Commander’s Palace for lunch.
Screen Shot 2015-10-29 at 3.18.45 PMThere the eternal fiancée of the skeptical cardiologist (EFOSC)  and I enjoyed delicious food, delightful company (Dave and Barb, who I wrote about last year when they dramatically improved their longevity by tying the knot in The Big Easy) and several oddly colored $0.25  martinis.

barbalivecor
Full disclosure. This was taken during brunch at Broussard’s and is a recreation of the aliveCor recording session at Commander’s Palace. Note the jazz trio in the background who later came by our table and played the St. Louis Blues.

During a lull in the activities I pulled out my iPhone and was asked by the lovely Barb what the funny looking thing stuck on the case was. This necessitated demonstrating my Alivecor mobile ECG device and recording her electrocardiogram.
CPalivecor annotated
The red arrows point to a regular artifact occurring at 200 beats per minute. Toward the end of the recording the artifact goes away and the normal QRS complexes (blue arrows) can be seen clearly.

Strangely enough, the recording was full of an odd artifact.
There was much discussion on the source of the artifact and we repeated the recording having her use her third and fourth fingers on the electrodes instead of the second and third fingers she used the first time.  Same result.
Barb speculated that it was due to the absence of husband Dave who had left the table to use the facilities.
When Dave returned we recorded his ECG and there was no artifact whatsoever.
Screen Shot 2015-10-29 at 3.15.04 PMI repeated the recording on Barb and lo and behold it was now free of artifact.
What was the source of this mysterious ECG artifact noted after an outstanding lunch and multiple 25 cent oddly colored martinis?
High blood alcohol level?
Strange electrical devices being utilized intermittently at Commander’s Palace?
Or perhaps I was recording the actual adverse electrical signals created by the absence of Barb’s devoted spouse, something heretofore not reported.
Further studies are clearly needed to fully define and characterize these waves which I have decided to call Commander’s electromagnetic marriage disruption waves or CEMDW’s.
martinily yours
-ACP
 
 
 

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4 thoughts on “Mysterious AliveCor Mobile ECG artifact noted at Commander's Palace”

  1. high (unhearable audio) frequencies mimicking the carrier wave frequencies used by Alivecor technology might have interfered. Possible sources : music, electronic insect repellents, piezo cristals, … any (audio – ultrasound) source with (harmonic) frequencies between 18 – 24 kHz

    Reply
  2. Apparently more IN DEPTH research needs to be done – be sure to EXACTLY reproduce ALL parameters….and enjoy New Orleans!!

    Reply

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