Portable Device Improves The Detection Of Atrial Fibrillation After Ablation

Asymptomatic recurrences of atrial fibrillation (AF) have been found to be common after ablation. A randomized controlled trial of AF screening using a handheld single-lead ECG monitor (BigThumb?) or a traditional follow-up strategy was conducted in patients with non-valvular AF after catheter ablation. Consecu-tive patients were randomized to either BigThumb Group (BT Group) or Traditional Follow-up Group (TF Group). The ECGs collected via BigThumb were compared using the automated AF detection algorithm, artifi-cial intelligence (AI) algorithm, and cardiologists' manual review. Subsequent changes in adherence to oral anti-coagulation of patients were also recorded. In this study, we examined 218 patients (109 in each group). After a follow-up of 345.4 +/- 60.2 days, AF-free survival rate was 64.2% in BT Group and 78.9% in TF Group (P = 0.0163), with more adherence to oral anticoagulation in BT Group (P = 0.0052). The participants in the BT Group recorded 26133 ECGs, among which 3299 (12.6%) were diagnosed as AF by cardiologists' manual re-view. The sensitivity and specificity of the AI algorithm were 94.4% and 98.5% respectively, which are signifi-cantly higher than the automated AF detection algorithm (90.7% and 96.2%). As per our findings, it was determined that follow-up after AF ablation using BigThumb leads to a more frequent detection of AF recurrence and more adherence to oral anticoagulation. AI algorithm improves the ac-curacy of ECG diagnosis and has the potential to reduce the manual review. (Int Heart J 2021; 62: 786-791)Superscript/Subscript Available更多