Utility and accuracy of a smartphone-based electrocardiogram device as compared to a standard base-apex electrocardiogram in the horse.

This study highlights the comparison of a smartphone-based electrocardiogram (ECG) device against standard ECG equipment in assessing the cardiac health of horses. The research suggests that the mobile-based ECG device can accurately identify the heart rate and rhythm, providing a potentially cost-effective and convenient solution for veterinarians in field or hospital settings.

Methods

• The study was conducted using electrocardiograms (ECG) from 28 owned horses from two different referral hospitals.
• The comparison was made using 30-second ECG recordings from 23 horses, which were collected concurrently both with a smartphone-based ECG device and the standard base-apex lead ECG. Two horses provided two pairs of simultaneous ECG recordings.
• From one horse, the paired ECGs were recorded at different times. Seven more ECGs were taken from five horses using only the smartphone device, without a corresponding standard ECG at the same time as a point of reference.
• Three separate observers independently reviewed all ECGs without knowledge of which recording pairs belonged together.

Results

• The research found great consistency across the recordings. There was a high level of agreement among observers for rhythm assessment. All three reviewers were mostly in agreement, noting the same cardiac rhythm on both smartphone and standard ECG recordings.
• The polarity of the QRS complex, a standard measurement in ECGs, was similar between ECGs simultaneously obtained from both systems.
• Heart rates calculated from each pair of ECGs were almost identical, staying within one beat of each other.

Conclusion

• The data suggests that ECGs acquired through a smartphone ECG device accurately identified heart rate and cardiac rhythm in most horses tested.
• In one instance, the small size of the heart’s electrical complexes on the smartphone ECG led to a misdiagnosis. This implies there may be limitations to the technology, especially in the identification of P waves, which are one of the primary waves identifiable in an ECG scan.
• The findings indicate that smartphone-based ECGs could potentially offer a more affordable and convenient method for veterinarians to identify and monitor cardiac arrhythmias in horses, both in field and clinical settings.