Applicability of a Novel Wearable Wireless Electrocardiogram Monitoring Device (Spyder) for Arrhythmia Detection in Patients with Suspected Cardiac Arrhythmias

Introduction

In clinical practice, many cardiovascular symptoms can be caused by arrhythmias that are not detected by electrocardiography (ECG) or 24–48 h Holter ECG monitoring.

Aims

To describe the efficacy and applicability of a new device (Spyder) in detecting cardiac arrhythmias with midterm ECG monitoring.

Methods

A descriptive, prospective study was performed on 26 consecutive patients who underwent midterm ECG monitoring with the novel ECG patch device (Spyder). The study was conducted over a 6-month period from August 2020 to February 2021.

Results

Twenty-six patients (mean age, 57.8 ± 12.5 years; men, 77%) wearing a Spyder wireless ECG-monitoring device were recruited. The mean wearing time was 84 hours. The main indications for using the device were detection of recurrent atrial fibrillation after radiofrequency ablation (30.7%) and screening for atrial fibrillation after cryptogenic stroke (23.1%). All ECG monitor recordings obtained during the study period were of good quality. The device detected 12 episodes of atrial fibrillation in eight patients, one episode of ventricular tachycardia, one supraventricular tachycardia event, one case of paroxysmal third-degree atrioventricular block, and five cases of frequent premature ventricular contraction. The time to detection of the first episodes of atrial fibrillation and ventricular and supraventricular tachycardia was 28.8 and 47 hours, respectively.

Conclusions

The new wearable wireless ECG-monitoring device (Spyder) is a feasible and effective method for the detection of cardiac arrhythmias.