iRhythm Technologies has launched its Zio service in the UK to support the identification and clinical diagnoses of cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (AF).
To aid in the diagnosis of the condition, iRhythm has developed Zio, a wearable heart monitor that attaches to the patient’s chest for a period of up to 14 days.
The Zio patch detects arrhythmias such as AF and without the need for numerous patient visits, iRhythm said in a press release, and can be worn as the patient goes about their normal routine. Between June and August 2019, iRhythm identified an arrhythmia in 72% of patients that were issued monitors, with nearly one in 10 then going on to be diagnosed with AF.
Around 1.2 million people in the UK are registered with atrial fibrillation, with nearly half a million (422,600) predicted to have AF undiagnosed according to Public Health England. AF is known to increase a patient’s stroke risk.
Justin Hall, vice president and general manager EMEA at iRhythm Technologies, said: “AF is one of the most important preventable risk factors for stroke disease. Patients who suffer an AF-related stroke often have poor outcomes – and we’re launching in the UK to change that. With access to such innovative digital technologies – which utilise AI to accurately and efficiently aid detection and diagnosis of arrhythmias, such as AF, at the first time of asking, we can eliminate the need for numerous patient visits due to indeterminate repeat tests, as well as significantly improving the patient experience.”
