medilog® AR12 |
Product
 4/7  |
High resolution ECG with 4096Hz sampling |
|
| Product Summary | medilog®DARWIN Software | Diagnostic Tool medilog®DARWIN Atrial | Diagnostic tool: medilog®DARWIN Apnoea | Diagnostic Tool: medilog®DARWIN HRV | Order a brochure | Request |
medilog Diagnostic Tool
Atrial Fibrillation
What is AF?
Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of irregular heart rhythm, estimated to affect up to 2% of the world’s population. The likelihood of developing AF increases with age and the number of people affected is expected to double in the next 20 years.
AF is believed to account for one third of all hospital admissions for cardiac rhythm problems and believed to cause around 15% of all strokes.
In AF, the upper chambers of the heart quiver instead of beating effectively. When this happens, blood in these chambers can pool and clot. If a piece of the blood clot travels to an artery in the brain and becomes lodged, it may cause a stroke.
Therefore early detection and treatment could save healthcare systems the enormous cost of treating patients under emergency conditions, and improve outcomes for the patients concerned.
What causes AF?
There are many causes of AF. In some people, AF has no apparent cause, in others AF may be related to certain medical conditions including:
- Heart failure where the heart’s main pumping chamber does not pump blood normally
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Inflammation of the heart causes swelling that can irritate the heart and lead to AF
- Pulmonary disease can result from a blood clot in the legs that travels to the lungs and can sometimes trigger AF
- Thyroid disease as the result of an overactive thyroid gland
- Alcohol abuse or binge drinking increase the risk of developing AF
- Structural defects of the heart and its valves can cause part of the heart to enlarge, or become dilated
- Family history of AF
There are three major types of AF:
- Paroxysmal AF
Often considered temporary, this usually comes on suddenly and symptoms can range from mild to severe. The irregular heart rhythms may last for a few seconds, minutes, hours, or longer before the heart returns to a normal rhythm. - Persistent AF
The irregular heart rhythm continues unless it is treated. - Permanent AF
Sometimes called chronic AF where the normal rhythm cannot be restored using drugs or other treatment. People with permanent AF usually take drugs to control heart rate and reduce the risk of clotting.
How is AF detected?
Although a common condition affecting more than one in ten people over the age of 75, AF is not always recognised immediately as symptoms such as palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness and fainting are similar to those of other medical conditions or there may be no symptoms at all.
The standard test for AF is an electrocardiogram (ECG) for all patients, whether symptomatic or not, in whom AF is suspected because an irregular pulse has been detected. However, finding AF can be difficult, especially if the patient does not have any symptoms or if the AF is intermittent.
A new SCHILLERmedilog screening tool called medilog®DARWIN Atrial has been developed to help detect AF easily and reliably and without the need for a hospital visit. medilog®DARWIN Atrial uses high speed sampling and displays the result as a simple graph which can be interpreted easily by general practitioners (GPs), nurses and technicians to see if the patient has AF. medilog®DARWIN Atrial puts a reliable, affordable and non-invasive screening device in the hands of people that can make a difference. Unlike a standard ECG, that records the heart rhythm over a few seconds, medilog®DARWIN Atrial can record the activity of the heart over extended periods of time (up to 3 days) so even intermittent episodes of AF can be found. medilog®DARWIN Atrial is a unique package that helps you to screen specifically for Atrial problems. By recording at 4,096 samples per second our medilog® AR4 and medilog® AR12 recorders can detect and view P and T waves in real time.
Using medilog®DARWIN Atrial software and unique features such as ECHOViewTM, you can now see and distinguish between Atrial Fibrillation, Atrial Flutter and AV block at a glance.
If you haven’t got a Medilog... you can’t find Atrial events without time consuming beat or arrhythmia editing.
medilog®DARWIN Atrial allows you to:
- Reduce costs by detecting Atrial Fibrillation and Atrial Flutter
- Pre-screen to ensure you need to carry out invasive diagnostics, therapy or surgery
- Monitor patients more effectively following ablation therapy or surgery
- Define treatment for AF
Once detected, there are a variety of treatments to prevent blood clots from forming, reducing the risk of a stroke and to get the heart rate and rhythm under control. The doctor may prescribe an oral drug called an anticoagulant sometimes known as a blood thinner to prevent the formation of blood clots that could lead to a stroke. In addition medications to help slow down the heart rate such as beta blockers as well as antiarrhythmics to help get the heart back to a normal rhythm may be prescribed; in addition to medication there are other types of treatments such as electrical cardioversion to reset the heart’s rhythm plus pacemakers or surgery.
