The human heart works in mysterious ways but one of the routes to read the ways of the heart is through the ECG machine. And to make it more easier for anyone with heart ailments to read the signs, we now have a credit card-sized device aptly named Sanket (meaning signs) that reads the ECG waves which then can be sent to the doctors using a smartphone.
Developed by interventional cardiologist Dr Nishith Chandra, Director at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in New Delhi, and his partners Rahul Rastogi and Neha Rastogi, this portable device could connect with Android and iOS mobile phones and transmit the live ECG waves of the user on the phone screen. The readings can then be relayed to doctors through SMS, e-mail or any other applications. “Symptoms such as heart pain, palpitations and shortness of breath may be signs of heart diseases. With the Sanket ECG device, a recording can be made when symptoms occur whether at home or away. These recordings can then be shared with doctors immediately who can examine it and use it for correct diagnosis,” says Dr Chandra. The timely monitoring of the symptoms though ECG readings, besides detecting arrhythmia, syncope, artrial fibrillation and others, could prevent fatal heart attacks and save the lives of many patients
Most of the times doctors get patients who complain about palpitations and other symptoms related to heart diseases. But absence of ECG readings at the time of these symptoms is a hurdle that doctors face while diagnosing them. “This is one reason that inspired me to develop a portable machine which people can use at the comfort of their home and at times of distress,” says Dr Chandra. He along with the Rastogis, who are engineers and helped with the technical inputs required to build the machine, founded a start-up called Agatsa and designed the device.
The first practical ECG machine was invented by Dutch doctor Willem Einthoven in 1903 who later received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1924 for it. But the first generation machines were huge and occupied almost an entire room. Later many user-friendly devices were developed but nothing comes close to Sanket in terms of connectivity and portability. “There are other portable devices such as AliveCor in the market but one of the major disadvantages of such machine is that it gives only single-lead reading while in Sanket one can record up to six leads,” says the doctor. ‘Leads’ are a system that allows to look at the heart from different angles by placing the cathodes on the surface of the skin which is then used to measure the electrical activity of the heart. A conventional ECG machine records 12 leads.
Priced at Rs 15,000, Sanket could bring about a change in the field of heart care not only in homes but also hospitals. “The portability of the device makes it very suitable to use in the outpatient visits as the direct on-screen display makes it possible to evaluate the electrical activity of the heart without first printing or downloading the readings,” says Dr Chandra. For home monitoring, all one needs to do is get the device and download the Sanket app in their phone and connect it to the device through Bluetooth. One of the ways by which the patient could easily record the ECG is by placing the thumbs on the two sensors (present on the surface of the device) and the readings are immediately shown on the phone screens. For different leads, they can place the side sensor of the device at various angles over chest while holding the other sensor with the thumb (as shown in the figure.)
The device is currently available at Agatsa and with Dr Chandra. One can mail at drchandra@hotmail.com, contact 120-6500400, or visit www.agatsa.com for further information.
know the ECG
A heart ailment can be diagnosed by recording the electrical activity of the heart. Electrocardiography (ECG) is the process by which these activities are recorded by using electrodes which are placed on a patient’s body. The first practical ECG machine invented by Dutch doctor Willem Einthoven in 1903 was a revolutionary device that brought about a positive change in the heart care industry. The first-generation machines, however, were huge and not very user-friendly. These disadvantages were later improved upon in subsequent devices.