New Cardiac Monitor Can Reduce Workload Burden from False Positive Detections

Cardiologists balancing increasing workload pressures and time demands in their clinics, have from today access to a new injectable cardiac monitor (ICM). BIOMONITOR IIIm is equipped with a unique algorithm that significantly reduces false positive atrial fibrillation (AF) detections due to ectopic beats.

Physicians and medical staff often lose precious time reviewing these non-actionable episodes. It has been found that 52 percent of false positive AF episodes occur due to premature ectopic beats¹, which can be falsely detected as AF.

The new device can achieve a 72 percent reduction in false positives² while maintaining 100 percent of AF-related sensitivity. It removes single ectopic beats out of the AF detection algorithm, enhancing diagnostic accuracy. This will free up physicians to focus on the patients who most need their care, by reducing the workload related to reviewing non-actionable alerts.

These important new features are supported by image quality comparable to those recorded on a gold-standard 12-lead ECG³. Results from a study recently published in the Journal of Electrocardiology show that the device helps support diagnostic precision.

Key findings from the BIO|CONCEPT³ study are:

• 89 percent P-wave visibility across all cardiac cycles,
• 99 percent noise-free recordings, and
• High 0.7 mV R-wave amplitudes.

“Sensing quality is paramount for accurate arrhythmia diagnoses,” said A/Prof. Justin Mariani principal investigator of BIO|CONCEPT, Alfred Health, Australia. “While ICMs are getting smaller, the BIOvector design can ensure the ICM’s sensing and detecting capabilities which we’ve been able to show in our study.”

“The ability to significantly decrease false AF detection is instrumental in helping reduce workload for physicians and medical staff while supporting precision for diagnoses and positive patient outcomes,” said Dr. Volker Lang, Senior VP Research & Development BIOTRONIK CRM.

In addition to these benefits, BIOMONITOR IIIm is the industry leader in battery longevity with 5.5 years of continuous service, providing long-term post-ablation or cryptogenic stroke monitoring. It is also backed by the Patient App, which allows patients to include vital symptom data, providing physicians with symptom-rhythm correlation which strengthens diagnostic precision.

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References: 

1. Afzal. Et al Incidence of false-positive transmissions during remote rhythm monitoring with implantable loop recorders. Heart Rhythm 2020;17:75–80)
2. McDowall L et al. The BIO|CONCEPT.BIOMONITOR III study: Performance of implanted BIOMONITOR IIITM for detection of baseline electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters. Poster AP19-01240; APHRS 2019.
3. Mariani JA, Weerasooriya R, van den Brink O, Mohamed U, Gould PA, Pathak RK, et al. Miniaturized implantable cardiac monitor with a long sensing vector (BIOMONITOR III): Insertion procedure assessment, sensing performance, and home monitoring transmission success. J Electrocardiol. 2020;60:118–25. doi: 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2020.04.004.