CARDIOVIT FT-1: an ally against COVID-19

CARDIOVIT FT-1 was used in a study on the arrhythmic safety of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients in different clinical settings.

A consortium of researchers published a study on behalf of the ESC on the arrhythmic safety of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients in different clinical settings. The aim of the study was to describe ECG modifications and arrhythmic events in COVID-19 patients undergoing hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) therapy in different clinical settings.

KEY BENEFITS OF CARDIOVIT FT-1 DURING THE CORONA PANDEMIC
Portability, small and easy-to-carry device:
Thanks to its small dimensions and portability, the CARDIOVIT FT-1 has been used to acquire the ECGs in out-of-hospital patients, at home or in nursing homes. Twenty to fifty ECGs were performed every day. A total of 649 COVID-19 patients (61.9 ± 18.7 years, 46.1% males) were enrolled.
Fast data transfer to HIS via WiFi:
The ECGs were transmitted to the SCHILLER data management system SEMA immediately after acquisition, using a hotspot from the nurse‘s mobile phone.
Remote ECG analysis and automatic calculation of QTc values with choice of different Formulas:
Doctors in the hospital analysed the ECGs in SEMA. The QT intervals were first measured using the re-measurement tool of SEMA and then compared with the automatic measurements. QTc values were automatically calculated by SEMA with different formulas (Bazett, Fridericia, Framingham). Doctors appreciate the ease of use of the re-measurement tool and the automatic re-calculation of QTc when QT was manually adjusted.
The authors concluded that HCQ administration is safe for short-term treatment of patients with COVID-19 infection, regardless of the clinical setting of delivery, causing only modest QTc prolongation and no directly attributable arrhythmic deaths.

The study as well as suplementary material is available online on the OUP/ESC website.

12-lead ECG was recorded and transmitted using the nurse smartphone as internet access point for Home-treated patients (Source: https://doi.org/10.1093/europace/euaa216).