Cardiologs, in partnership with the Valley Health System, has announced the results of a clinical study that found the Cardiologs AI-based ECG analysis solution reduces by almost 70% the false positives of atrial fibrillation (AF) detected by implantable loop recorders (ILRs).
“Remote monitoring of ILRs has become an integral part of the modern cardiology practice. However, the deluge of data and the challenges in distinguishing real events from false positives can be time consuming and can siphon resources and attention from more pressing needs,” said cardiac electrophysiologist Rod Passman, Director of the Center for Arrhythmia Research and Jules J Reingold Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Preventative Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, USA.
To address the issue, Cardiologs partnered with the Valley Health System to test an AI-based solution on a cohort of 348 patients who received an ILR for either atrial fibrillation (AF) or cryptogenic stroke (CS). The ILR ECG strips with 1,190 detected AF episodes were then uploaded into Cardiologs’ cloud-based platform and filtered through Cardiologs’ AI-based algorithm. The results show Cardiologs reduced the number of false positive episodes by 69.7% and 62% in the CS and known AF cohorts respectively—with a 1.7% and 0.6% corresponding false negative rate. The findings were first presented at the Heart Rhythm Society in May 2020 and will be published in HeartRhythm later this month.
“The use of ILRs has been a great addition to the long-term heart monitoring tool set. But the large amount of data associated with extended monitoring and specifically the high level of false positive AF detections have created a considerable burden in the management of ILR data. The Cardiologs AI solution offers remarkable promise to alleviating the heavy clinical burden associated with managing ILR patients,” said cardiac electrophysiologist Suneet Mittal, Director of Electrophysiology, Associate Chief of Cardiology, Medical Director of the Snyder Atrial Fibrillation Center, Director of Cardiac Research at Valley Health System, Paramus, USA, and lead investigator of the study.
“We are excited about the continuously expanding use of the Cardiologs AI platform,” said Yann Fleureau, Cardiologs’ co-founder and CEO. “It’s reaffirming to receive even more clinical validation—demonstrating the tremendous value and benefits that come with using the solution. We look forward to working with ILR users around the world in the months to come.”
