The skeptical cardiologist is a firm believer in the benefit of maintaining normal rhythm in most patients who develop atrial fibrillation (AF, see here.) Sometimes this can be accomplished by lifestyle changes (losing pounds and cutting back on alcohol , treating sleep apnea, etc.) but more often successful long term maintenance of normal rhythm (NSR) […]
Tag Archives: atrial fibrillation
A Guide To Using Apple Watch and Kardia ECG devices-What They Can and Can’t Do
Many patients (and perhaps physicians) are confused as to how best to utilize personal ECG devices. I received this question illustrating such confusion from a reader recently: I first came across your website a year ago during persistent angina attacks, and returning now due to increasing episodes of symptoms akin to Afib. I bought a […]
Apple Heart Study: Despite The Ballyhoo, No Benefits Demonstrated, Harms Not Measured
The results of the Apple Heart Study, were presented this morning at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions amid intense media scrutiny. The AHS is a “prospective, single arm pragmatic study” which had the primary objective of measuring the proportion of participants with an irregular pulse detected by the Apple Watch who turn out […]
Apple Watch Fails To Notify Patient Of 3 Hour Episode Of Rapid Atrial Fibrillation
Apple claims that its Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation (AF) and appropriately notify the wearer when it suspects AF. This claim comes with many caveats on their website: Apparently it needs to record 5 instances of irregular heart beat characteristic of atrial fibrillation over at least 65 minutes before making the notification. This feature […]
Putting The Apple Watch 4 ECG To The Test In Atrial Fibrillation: An Informal Comparison To Kardia
My first patient this morning, a delightful tech-savvy septagenarian with persistent atrial fibrillation told me she had been monitoring her rhythm for the last few days using her Apple Watch 4’s built in ECG device. Previously she had been using what I consider the Gold Standard for personal ECG monitoring- AliveCor’s Kardia Mobile ECG […]
AliveCor’s Mobile ECG With Kardia Pro Is Eliminating Any Need For Short or Long Term Cadiac Monitors For Most of My Afib patients: A Tale of Four Cardioversions
I described in detail in March (see here) my early experience in utilizing AliveCor’s KardiaMobile ECG device in conjunction with their Kardia Pro cloud service to monitor my patient’s with atrial fibrillation (afib). Since that post the majority of my new afib patients have acquired the Kardia device and use it regularly to help us […]
The New Apple Watch 4: Cardiac Accuracy Unknown, “Game-Changing” Benefits Overblown
On February 10, 2014 AliveCor, Inc. announced that its heavily validated personal mobile ECG monitor had received FDA over-the counter clearance. Previously the device, which allows recording of a single-lead ECG and, in conjunction with a free smart-phone app, can diagnose atrial fibrillation was only available by prescription. Since 2013, I have been successfully using […]
Update On The Kardia Band Apple Watch Accessory: Accuracy In Atrial Fibrillation Pre and Post Cardioversion
As I described here, the Kardia Band (KB) is an FDA-approved Apple Watch accessory available to the general public without a prescription which records a high quality single-lead ECG. I’ve been using mine now for a while and can confirm the ease and accuracy of the ECG recordings it makes. I find recordings made with […]
Is It Safe To Consume Grapefruit If You Take The Blood Thinner Apixiban (Eliquis)?
A patient of mine with atrial fibrillation taking the blood thinner eliquis told me that she had eaten grapefruit for two days in a row and then developed a nose bleed. She had heard of the interaction between grapefruit and certain medications and wondered if this had caused her nose bleed. I was unaware of […]
AliveCor Mobile ECG : Ways To Minimize Low Voltage and Unclassified Recordings
Sometimes AliveCor’s Mobile ECG device yields unclassified interpretations of recordings. Understandably if you want to know whether your rhythm is normal or atrial fibrillation, the unclassified classification can be very frustrating. There are various caues of an unclassified tracing with different solutions. Some unclassified recordings are due to a heart rate over 100 BPM or […]
