Real-Time ECG Interval Monitoring Using a Fully Disposable Wireless Patch Sensor

TL;DR

This paper introduces a disposable wireless patch sensor for real-time ECG interval monitoring, offering a remote, COVID-19 pandemic-compatible solution with validated accuracy against standard 12-lead ECGs.

Contribution

The study presents a novel, fully disposable wireless patch sensor capable of accurate, real-time ECG interval measurement for remote cardiac monitoring.

Findings

Mean timing error for ECG intervals is within acceptable clinical range.

VitalPatch accurately measures PR, QRS, QT, QTb, and QTf intervals.

The device is validated against standard 12-lead ECGs in 30 subjects.

Abstract

ECG interval monitoring provides key insights into the diagnosis of cardiac diseases. The standard 12-lead ECG is generally used, however, because of the current COVID-19 pandemic there is a strong need for a remote monitoring solution which will reduce exposure of health care providers to coronavirus. This article presents a disposable wireless patch biosensor (VitalPatch) and associated platform functionalities for real-time continuous measurement of clinically relevant ECG intervals including PR interval, QRS duration, QT interval, corrected QT interval by Bazett (QTb), and corrected QT interval by Fridericia (QTf). The performance of the VitalPatch is validated by comparing its automated algorithm interval measurements to the manually annotated global intervals of the 12-lead ECG device in 30 subjects. The accuracy of interval monitoring (in terms of mean timing error calculated by subtracting the VitalPatch measurements from the global intervals) is 2.7+/-15.94 ms, -1.97+/-12.29 ms, -14.6+/-12.97 ms, - 15.33+/-14.11 ms, and -15.08+/-13.69 ms for PR interval, QRS duration, QT interval, QTb, and QTf, respectively. These results demonstrate that the VitalPatch is a viable solution for measuring ECG intervals while taking advantage of its remote monitoring feature during the pandemic.