14 DAY TRIAL // GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric, announced that the company has developed two new algorithms that, when used together, may help physicians predict whether a patient is at risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD).
For the first time, the algorithms can be used in combination with technology that is portable, making diagnostic tests available to patients anytime, anywhere.
GE's two new breakthrough algorithms, the Marquette T-Wave Alternans algorithm and the Marquette Heart Rate Turbulence algorithm, when inputted with ambulatory electrocardiography (ECG) data have been shown to help predict if a person is at risk for SCD.
Ambulatory ECG data, also known as Holter monitoring, is a technique commonly used by physicians to investigate whether a patient's symptoms, such as fainting, dizziness, or palpitations, are caused by a heartbeat that is too slow, too fast, or very irregular. Because GE's Holter system is portable it enables physicians to monitor a patient's heart rate information during their normal everyday activities.
In conjunction with GE's Holter monitoring system, the T-Wave Alternans algorithm precisely detects fluctuations in the ECG waveform, identifying a pattern variation that can indicate SCD risk.
"Used together, these algorithms interpret complex cardiac rhythms that provide a more accurate, advanced way to determine which patients are at risk for SCD and would benefit most from a implantable defibrillator," said Dr. Richard L. Verrier, associate professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.