The skeptical cardiologist has been evaluating a demo version of AliveCor’s new KardiaMobile 6L.
I have been a huge advocate of Kardia’s single lead ECG and use it with great success in dozens of my afib patients. I’ve written about how this personal ECG monitoring empowers patients and providers and is a crucial component of the enlightened medical management of afib.
In less than a month AliveCor plans to release its KardiaMobile 6L which will provide 6 ECG leads using a smartphone based mobile ECG system that is similar to the Kardia single lead system.
AliveCor’s website proclaims “This is your heart x 6.”
I was fortunate enough to obtain a demo version of the 6L and have been evaluating it.
My first impressions are that this is a remarkable step forward in the technology of personal ECG monitoring. I’m not sure if I would call it “your heart x 6” but I feel the ability to view six high quality leads compared to one is definitely going to add to the diagnostic capabilities of the Kardia device.
Kardia 6L Setup And Hardware
The 6L is similar in design and function to the single lead device.
I’m including this cool spinning video (from the AliveCor website) which makes it appear, slick, stylish and futuristic
Once paired to the Kardia smartphone app (available for iOS or Android smartphones for free) it communicates with the smartphone using BLE to create ECG tracings.
Like the single lead Kardia the 6L has two sensors on top for left and right hand contact. But in addition, there is a third on the bottom which can be put on a left knee or ankle.
The combination of these sensors and contact points yield the 6 classic frontal leads of a full 12 lead ECG: leads I, II, III, aVL, aVR, and aVF. This is accomplished, AliveCor points out “without messy gels and wires.
I found that using the device was simple and strait-forward and we were able to get high quality tracings with minimal difficulty within a minute of starting the process in all the patients we tried it on.
The Diagnostic Power Of Six Leads
Below is a tracing on a patient with known atrial fibrillation. The algorithm correctly diagnoses it. With 6 different views of the electrical activity of the atrium I (and the Kardia algorithm) have a better chance of determining if p waves are present, thereby presumably increasing the accuracy of rhythm determination
In the example below, the Kardia 6L very accurately registered the left axis deviation and left anterior fascicular block that we also noted on this patient’s 12 lead ECG. This 6L capability, determining the axis of the heart in the frontal plane, will further add to the useful information Kardia provides.
For a good summary of axis determination and what abnormal axes tells us see here.
The History of ECG Leads
When I began my cardiology training the 12-lead ECG was standard but it has not always been that way. I took this timeline figure from a nice review of the history of the ECG
Einthoven’s first 3 lead EKG in 1901 was enormous.
Old string galvanometer electrocardiograph showing the big machine with the patient rinsing his extremities in the cylindrical electrodes filled with electrolyte solution.
It is mind-boggling to consider that we can now record 6 ECG leads with a smartphone and a device the size of a stick of gum
For the first 30 years of the ECG era cardiologists only had 3 ECG leads to provide information on cardiac pathology. Here’s a figure from a state of the art paper in 1924 on “coronary thrombosis” (which we now term a myocardial infarction) showing changes diagnostic of an “attack” and subsequent atrial fibrillation
In the 1930s the 6 precordial leads were developed providing more information on electrical activity in the horizontal axis of the heart. The development of the augmented leads (aVr, aVL, aVF) in 1942 filled in the gaps of the frontal plane and the combination of all of these 12 leads was sanctified by the AHA in 1954.
I’ll write a more detailed analysis of the Kardia 6L after spending more time using it in patient care.
Specifically I’ll be analyzing (and looking for published data relative to):
-the relative accuracy of the 6L versus the single lead Kardia for afib determination (which, at this point would be the major reason for current Kardia users to upgrade.)
-the utility of the 6L for determination of cardiac axis and electrical intervals in comparison to the standard 12 lead ECG, especially in patients on anti-arrhythmic drugs
For now, this latest output from the meticulous and thoughtful folks at AliveCor has knocked my socks off!
Stockingfreely Yours,
-ACP
N.B. If one uses the single lead kardia device in the traditional manner (left hand and right hand on the sensors) one is recording ECG lead I. However, if you put your right hand on the right sensor and touch the left sensor to your left leg you are now recording ECG lead II and if to the right leg, ECG lead III.
I describe this in detail here. For certain individuals the lead II recordings are much better than lead I and reduce the prevalence of “unclassified” recordings.
My feeling is that by automatically including the leg (and leads II and III) the 6L will intrinsically provide high voltage leads for review and analysis, thereby improving the ability to accurately classify rhythm.
And (totally unrelated to the 6L discussion) one can also record precordial ECG leads by putting the device on the chest thus theoretically completing the full 12 leads of the standard ECG.
Please also note that I have no financial or consulting ties to AliveCor. I’m just a big fan of their products.