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Vets can use a smartphone-based heart monitor to identify arrhythmias that are difficult to diagnose in the field.

Posted by Alexandra Beckstett, The Horse Managing Editor | Jan 17, 2018 | AAEP Convention, AAEP Convention 2017, Anatomy & Physiology, Article, Cardiovascular System, Conditioning, Diseases and Conditions, Equine Care Professions, Heart & Cardiovascular Problems, Horse Care, Monitoring Exercise Performance, More Diseases & Conditions, Musculoskeletal System, Sports Medicine, Vet and Professional, Vet Convention Reports, Veterinary Practice

Bill Gilsenan, VMD, Dipl. ACVIM (LAIM), a practitioner at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, in Lexington, Kentucky, offered up an option at the 2017 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Nov. 17-21 in San Antonio, Texas. He described a smartphone-based heart monitor veterinarians can use in the field.

The AliveCor Veterinary Heart Monitor is a handheld wireless portable ECG device that veterinarians can use to evaluate cardiac rhythm. Gilsenan described it as essentially an iPhone case with electrodes on it that transmits an ECG-compatible signal to a phone.

In 2013 Kraus et al. performed a study to validate the monitor in 46 dogs, 23 cats, and 18 horses. All horses’ heart rates were accurate and identical to those measured on a traditional ECG machine.

To use this device, said Gilsenan, the veterinarian must first download the app to his or her smartphone. Then, he or she wets the horse’s left girth area with isopropyl alcohol and places the monitor against the horse’s skin, behind the elbow at the girth, for about 30 to 60 seconds. Once the tracing (the transcript of cardiac events) is recorded, the veterinarian can view it on his or her smartphone, export it as a PDF, or e-mail it to a colleague for consultation. In his opinion, said Gilsenan, the ECG is best viewed as a PDF.

Now comes the hard part: interpretation. Because analyzing the results can be overwhelming, he recommended a five-step systematic approach:

Overall, he said, the Veterinary Heart Monitor is an extremely useful means of diagnosing cardiac arrhythmias in the field. “It offers substantially more information to the ambulatory veterinarian, who is equipped with simply a stethoscope,” he says, “and can influence decisions to properly treat or refer affected patients.”

The app also stores a catalog of the user’s recorded ECGs.

Veterinarians can order the products online for just under $200, he said.

Gilsenan noted that AliveCor has produced a newer heart monitor model called Kardia Mobile that’s Bluetooth-compatible. It’s used in human medicine but has not yet been validated for veterinary species.

Alexandra Beckstett, Managing Editor of The Horse and a native of Houston, Texas, is a lifelong horse owner who has shown successfully on the national hunter/jumper circuit and dabbled in hunter breeding. After graduating from Duke University, she joined Blood-Horse Publications as Assistant Editor of its book division, Eclipse Press, before joining The Horse.

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