The Martini Hospital in Groningen uses an innovative heart monitor in the form of a ‘smart patch’, the Philips ePatch. The ePatch helps doctors detect heart rhythm disorders such as atrial fibrillation. This is a common, but often undetected, condition that can lead to serious health problems such as stroke, dementia and heart failure. This smart patch is about the size of half a matchbox and measures the same data as a traditional Holter monitor.
Previously, cardiac monitoring always used a holter monitor that the patient wore for a relatively short time. That is a device with electrodes stuck to the upper body and connected via wires to a box that patients wear around their necks. This method of monitoring, while effective, limits patients' freedom of movement. Moreover, this method of heart monitoring requires a lot of manual processing and analysis of data, making effective detection of cardiac arrhythmias (arrhythmias) a challenge for healthcare providers.
Five days
Patients using the Philips ePatch have more freedom of movement which greatly improves the user experience. For example, they can shower and exercise with it. In addition, the Philips ePatch can be worn for five days, collecting more data. ‘This leads to more accurate diagnostics, treatments that fit better and ultimately, therefore, more quality of life,’ says Martini Hospital cardiologist Robert Tieleman in the post on its own website.
In that article, Tieleman also cites the ePatch as an example of technology that provides relief for healthcare labour shortages. It will save hospital visits if, in future, patients can apply the patch themselves and return it by post.
Readout via AI
Another advantage of the ePatch is that the data is read out using artificial intelligence (AI) with the Cardiologs analytics platform. A holter analyst typically spends about 20 minutes on 24 hours of data from the holter, in the same time the holter analyst can analyse the five days of ePatch data. Tieleman calls this efficient processing of data very welcome, as an ageing population is expected to increase the number of patients with heart problems.
The introduction of the ePatch in the Netherlands is based on successful implementations worldwide. In the United States, more than 1.2 million patients are monitored annually with similar portable ePatches and AI-based analysis platforms. In Spain, the rollout to 14 hospitals has led to reduced length of stay, reduced pressure on emergency departments and cost reductions
