Read about the latest news on ECG / EKG Machines

Every 20 seconds in America, someone has a heart attack, and only 62 percent of those who have one survive. For patients with a family history of heart disease, or who have certain risk factors for heart attacks, regular testing on an electrocardiogram machine is an important element of preventive health. Despite these facts, many high risk patients have never been tested. That’s because they visit a primary doctor for their annual health check up, and the doctor doesn’t have an EKG machine in his or her office.

The rise of online used medical equipment dealers had a positive impact on many general practitioners because the price of some common medical devices has gone down. One of these is the portable EKG machine. This device monitors the electrical activity of the heart and helps doctors diagnose and treat heart disease. Until recently, the cost of these machines has prevented many clinics and practices from buying one. Used EKG machines offer the same level of functionality as newer machines, at just a fraction of the price.

A patient who may be at high risk for a heart attack can undergo a simple EKG test, right in the doctor’s office, without the need for a trip to the cardiologist. Of course, if symptoms such as chest pain, left arm pain, or shortness of breath are present, a patient should go directly to the emergency room. In an EKG test, electrodes are placed at several points on the body to give the machine an accurate reading of the heart’s activity. By comparing the strength and timing of various signals produced by the heart muscle, a physician can assess the overall health of the heart. It can also detect an irregular or arrhythmic heart condition, or the presence of some congenital heart defects. Without access to EKG testing, many of these problems would go undetected.

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Drug researchers are increasingly concerned about the cardiac effects of new drugs, and for good reason. Many of the pharmaceutical products that have been developed recently have been proven unsafe, but only after performing a “Thorough ECG Trial” (TET). According to the FDA’s new mandate, all new compounds must undergo a TET assessment before they can be released on the market. This new guideline is a result of the ICH E14 rules, which were developed to determine the risks of a compound to cardiac health.

If any heart-related concerns are raised after performing a TET, the next phase of the clinical trial will require a more robust form of EKG testing. A thorough ECG trial uses a centralized system, which has greatly improved the reliability of the data. By centralizing the collection of data around a core laboratory, EKG machines are supplied to the monitoring sites and analyzed remotely by clinicians at the lab. This approach allows for faster and more meaningful data collection in a clinical trial.

Conversely, when a clinical trial uses a traditional, or decentralized, method of gathering ECG data, there may be some inconsistencies in the IDM (Interval Duration Measurement) because not all EKG machines us the same algorithms to calculate results. Using this method, a pharmaceutical company would need to hire a professional cardiologist to analyze the data on a site-by-site basis. Because the EKG results are normally collected at the beginning and end of a clinical trial, there is scarce information available to monitor the chemical’s cardiac effects on a subject.

In a centralized approach, digital EKG machines collect and distribute cleaner data because they eliminate misinterpretation and transcription errors. A centralized system can also track inconsistencies, such as demographic changes and missing visits, thereby ensuring the integrity of the study’s findings.

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Looking into the future of medicine, researchers are very optimistic about the potential of many technologies.  One of these is expected to be a more powerful type of EKG machine.  Rather than the typical electrode-based EKG, the machines of the future will use advanced micro-processors and other computer technology to improve accuracy and speed up a diagnosis.

Because they are so much more powerful, these EKG Machines will also be able to measure the electronic potential of a fetal heartbeat.  Doctors will be able to take the information gathered from these modern EKG machines and construct 3-dimensional models, providing physicians with better diagnostic data about how signals are triggering reactions within the heart.

One of the more recent new ways to use EKG machines is for clinical trials, where they are used to assess the effectiveness of certain drugs.  Another innovation allows portable EKG monitors to collect and distribute data over phone lines or through a wireless data connection.  In the phone model, a patient attaches am ECG transmitter to a phone’s mouthpiece while electrodes are placed under each arm.  A signal is sent through telephone lines to a remote ECG monitoring center.  Here, it is converted into EKG readings and relayed to a doctor, thereby making it possible to detect certain heart problems in patients remotely.

The collection of electrocardiogram data serves a vital role in certain clinical trials, especially as they relate to the assessment of investigational drugs and their impact on the heart.  Without clearing certain cardiac safety tests, many drugs have been refused approval from the F.D.A.  This highlights the need for accurate EKG and remote EKG testing during clinical trials. Like many other types of advanced medical equipment, EKG machines are constantly being revised and updated to include the latest technology.  However, it may still be a few years before many of these innovations will become available.

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