Monitor your heart health from home with Malaysia's first portable, medical-grade ECG

MONITOR YOUR HEART HEALTH FROM HOME WITH MALAYSIA'S FIRST PORTABLE, MEDICAL-GRADE ECG

MAY 10, 2021 @ 9.21PM

A patient would only need to touch or hold the electrode without the need for adhesive electrodes or pads with this type of monitoring device.

AliveCor’s KardiaMobile, a portable electrocardiogram (ECG), is now available for Malaysians nationwide. BioD Medica is the sole distributor of the American technology in Malaysia which aims to empower Malaysians with the necessary medical-grade tools to take charge of their heart health from the comfort of their homes. The ground-breaking, innovative device is also portable, making it a suitable alternative to ECGs used in hospitals.

The use of KardiaMobile eliminates the need for constant visits to the hospital to check ups which can consume precious hours. Hence, it benefits those that have a busy work life, as they tend to be less proactive in taking measures to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Especially now, in the middle of a pandemic, people are spending more time indoors, avoiding unnecessary visits out of the house to reduce the risk of getting infection. At the same time, it also helps rid the fear of being plugged into machines - a condition/fear known as tomophobia. The ability for patients to monitor their heart conditions from the comfort of their own homes, or at any other place during their convenient time, is a crucial step forward in the health technology space.

Myocardial infarction
Heart attack, or myocardial infarction, is one of the leading causes of death globally, and has easily identifiable symptoms, making Malaysians very much aware of it. However, the nucleus of the human body also attracts a plethora of other diseases that get little to no attention when compared to heart attacks. This is largely due to the lack of physically visible symptoms coupled with a lack of awareness.

For instance, arrhythmia or also known as Atrial Fibrillation, is one of the more serious heart conditions that makes up one third of stroke cases. Its symptoms may go unnoticed as well, making it a silent killer. In most cases of arrhythmia, the heart beats and pumps blood irregularly, causing a lack of blood flow to other organs such as the brain and lungs which can result in organ damage and potentially organ failure.

To date, it has already recorded a prevalence of 0.54% among Malaysians compared to the global average of 1%. Lack of awareness makes it harder to tackle the problem, which justifies why stroke is the third leading cause of death in our country with 13,799 or 9.80% of total deaths as of 2018. As such, AliveCor’s KardiaMobile can help with the ongoing problem that isn’t new to the scene but just as deadly as heart attacks. The revolutionary technology is now available to everyone, as AliveCor seeks to bring medical-grade, home-use health monitoring devices to the masses.

Smartphone operated
ECGs are used by doctors at hospitals to detect a deviation in heart rhythm by sticking electrodes with adhesive pads onto the skin. Single-lead ECGs are mostly handheld and portable and have even been made to be smartphone-operated such as being paired with a smartwatch thanks to today’s technology. Typically with this type of monitoring device, a patient would only need to touch or hold the electrode without the need for adhesive electrodes or pads. A direct interpretation of the signal can then be viewed using the smartphone application.

KardiaMobile works similarly with its 6-lead configuration that provides more detailed heart information. Other than for the purpose of heart rhythm monitoring, it also opens up the possibility of detecting heart issues such as Atrial Fibrillation, Bradycardia which is a slow heartbeat, Tachycardia which is a faster than average heartbeat, or even just normal heart rhythm in just 30 seconds by simply placing one’s fingers on the electrodes and instantly viewing the results using the Kardia smartphone application.