Chest patch that warns if you’re at risk of a stroke

ASTICK-ON chest patch could prevent thousands of strokes by detecting irregular heartbeats missed by other devices. The Zio adhesive patch, which measures just 5in by 2in, is almost eight times more effective than existing gadgets at picking up potentially life-threatening heart rhythm disorders. More than two million Britons have an arrhythmia — an abnormal heart rhythm that occurs when a problem with the electrical signals in the heart leads to it beating too fast, too slow or irregularly. In atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common type of arrhythmia, the heart beats irregularly and faster than normal. This chaotic rhythm can cause blood to pool within the heart and form a clot, which can then travel to the brain and cause a stroke. As a result, AF raises the risk of stroke up to five-fold.

Treatments that can prevent strokes include drugs that restore the heart’s normal rhythm and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) — small devices that shock the heart back into step.

But diagnosis can be difficult. NHS patients are often given portable ECG machines to take home and wear for 24 or 48 hours.

These pick up the heart’s electrical signals and send them to a mobile phone-sized recorder that is worn on a neck strap or clipped onto a belt. But rhythm changes that occur infrequently, such as once or twice a week, can be missed.

The new water-resistant Zio patch (which contains the electrodes and recording device in one) can be worn on the chest for up to two weeks, and so should be better at detecting infrequent fluctuations in heart rhythm.

If the patient feels a fluttering or racing of their heart — signs of AF — they press a button on the patch. This highlights the 45 seconds before and after, making any rhythm disturbances stand out when the record is analysed.

TwO weeks later the patient peels off the patch and sends it back to the manufacturer in a pre-paid box. The company analyses the data and complies a report for the patient’s doctor.

In a study from King’s College Hospital in London, 120 stroke patients were either given the battery-operated patch or a standard portable ECG machine to wear.

The patch was almost eight times more effective, picking up heart-rhythm problems in 16.3 per cent of patients.

Comparatively, just 2.1 per cent in the group wearing conventional monitors were identified as having problems.

Used on all stroke patients with suspected arrhythmias in just one hospital, the patch would prevent 10.8 strokes a year, by picking up problems that would otherwise be missed. This would have saved the NHS up to £160,000, annually, the European Journal of Medical Research reports.

Dr Punit Ramrakha, a consultant cardiologist at London’s Hammersmith Hospital, cautioned that the single-use patches are expensive, but said: ‘The cost of the patch is a small price to pay compared to the financial and social cost of looking after a patient following a stroke. Prevention is always better than treatment.’