WeHealth, by Servier, has launched Cardioskin—a connected solution that is designed to function as an ambulatory wearable 15-lead ECG—at the 2018 European Society of Cardiology Congress (25–29 August, Munich, Germany). A press release reports that Cardioskin is composed of a smart textile (woven into a T-shirt) that aims to measure the electrical activity of the heart from several angles and detect abnormalities in situations that require longer-term cardiac-activity monitoring.
A press release reports that the ECG data can be transmitted in real-time, considerably speeding up the process of diagnosis and clinical decision-making. Through a connected mobile App, the patient can identify when they have symptoms, enabling the cardiologist to correlate such symptoms with the data collected by the T-shirt. The press release states that sophisticated software integrated into a cloud-based platform allows rapid and efficient analysis of all of the data collected.
By increasing the duration and ease of more prolonged ECG monitoring, the Cardioskin digital wearable seeks to allow better identification of potentially serious heart abnormalities (including arrhythmia and ischaemia) that may only occur intermittently and be missed by other monitoring techniques. Consequently, the patient can receive better treatments personalised to their condition and will experience a better outcome. This is a “win-win” for both the patient and the doctor.
David Guez, director of WeHealth at Servier, says: “Cardioskin will enable patients to have access to quicker and more effective care as well as improve the day-to-day activities of healthcare professionals. I look forward to keep developing innovative solutions that lead the way in transforming care pathways.”
Martin Cowie (Imperial College London, London, UK), who is chair of the newly established ESC Digital Health Committee, comments: “It is fantastic to see a new solution to the very real problem of diagnosing intermittent heart abnormalities that may explain such serious conditions as syncope or stroke. Using the best of modern wearable digital technology, combined with a mobile App and an intelligent cloud-based platform, Cardioskin will likely prove to be an important tool for the modern cardiologist.”
