Wearable cardiac recorder offers mobile peace of mind

Unlike the standard Holter ambulatory heart-rate monitor that you turn in the next morning for the doctor to inspect a patient's heart rate over the past 24 hours, the STM32-powered 3-lead ECG recorder is at the patients' disposal any place and any time to record the data. The moment the patient has concerns, they simply apply the recorder to their chest to instantly record and send the essential cardiac data to the physician, over HTEC's cloud-based telemedicine solution, so the doctor can use the data to detect and diagnose arrhythmia.

The novel cardiac device uses dry electrodes that easily apply to the patient's skin. The high-performance STM32 F4 chip's powerful computing capabilities play a vital role in making sense of the complex ECG signal coming from the electrodes and in converting it into medically useful information. Extensively tested against the MIT ECG databases, HTEC's advanced signal-filtering algorithms have shown excellent results. HTEC's analysis has shown 99.6% accuracy in arrhythmia classification and 95% recognition of arrhythmia types. 

The low-power microcontroller's dynamic power scaling has enabled HTEC developers to optimise the application's energy use so it can record continuously for 7 days without re-charging. "Wearable ECG recorders open up possibilities for patient-friendly remote cardiac monitoring and diagnosis," said Jacky Perdrigeat, EMEA Region Vice President, STMicroelectronics. "HTEC's decision to use ST high-performance, low-power technology confirms our enabling role in the development of innovative wearable applications for better lives."

"Accurate and timely diagnosis can save lives and doesn't allow compromises on underlying technology," said Srdjan Jovanovic, CTO, HTEC. "The processing power and energy efficiency of ST's control chip have helped us develop a consumer device with medical-grade quality that can make a big difference to people with heart problems both known and hidden."

Clinical trials are starting now with the cardiac recorder potentially available in the market by the end of 2015, upon the release of product certification in Europe (CE) and China (CFDA). Availability in other markets is dependent on the release of the relevant certifications.