The new Touchscreen H’andy sana 210 with ECG function

A very useful device for patients and physicians

Prof. Dr. med. Markus Rothenburger, M.D. PhD; Dept. of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital Muenster, Germany

Priv. Doz. Dr. med. Hans B. Lehmkuhl M.D. PhD; Dept. of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, German Heart Center, Berlin, Germany

Priv. Doz. Dr. med. Christoph Bara M.D. PhD; Dept. of Cardiovascular, Thoracic- and Transplant Medicine, University Hospital MHH Hannover, Germany

Prof. Dr. med. Christian Joukhadar M.D. PhD; Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

Priv. Doz. Dr. med. Jörg Stypmann M.D. PhD; Dept. of Cardiology and Angiology, University Hospital Muenster, Germany

Priv. Doz. Dr. med. Andres Beiras-Fernandez M.D. PhD; Dept. of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich Großhadern, Germany

Christian Günzel M.D., GP and Accident and Emergency Medicine Physician, MVZ Dachau, Germany

 

Introduction:

The new Touchscreen H’andy sana 210, currently offered by Medical Marketing Berlin, represents a desirable new additional option for the care of patients.

The new Touchscreen H’andy sana 2010 includes all of the typical features of a modern smart phone including the additional major advantage of measuring a patient’s ECG

It is possible for the patient to either save the recorded ECG or send it directly to their family doctor or to any telemedicine centre.

Measuring the patient’s ECG is easy and can be done simply by putting two fingers on the sensor field of the H’andy sana 210.

The typical profile of a patient using the H’andy sana is above the age of 45 years, they have a risk profile for cardiovascular diseases or heart rhythm disorders. Furthermore people that have had a heart attack (e.g. myocardial infarction) or heart surgery in the past would be appropriate patients. GPs warmly welcomed the ECG phone because they now have the opportunity to perform an ECG examination remotely, at patients home and can bill for this patient care.

This report will discuss the advantages and disadvantages from medical specialist’s point of view.

The cost benefit structure of the H’andy sana 210 will also be discussed in this report.

 

Facts and Function of the Touchscreen H’andy sana 210

Technical Data

Telephone

Model                                          H'andy sana 210

Dimensions                                   103 x  59,5  x 17,5 mm

Weight                                         112 g (incl. battery) 88 g (w/o battery)

Colour                                          black or white

Memory                                       1 GB Micro SD

Display                                         2.8-Zoll QVGA Touch display, 320 x 240 pixels

Camera                                        1.3 megapixels

Battery

Nominal voltage                            3.7V

Capacity                                       1280mAh

Standby Modus                            up to 150 h

Speaking Time                              up to 5 h

Charger

Input                                            100-240V 50/60Hz 200mA

Standard accessory

Headset, Charger, Memory Chip, USB-cable

 

Function

Mobil-telephone including all typical features like

 

Organizer, Multimedia messages, Phone directory, File-manager

Integrated camera

Measurement and storage of ECG

24 hours service for reading and mailing of ECG

Health Suite: Entering and monitoring of health data, e.g. blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol.

2.8” Touchscreen applications for convenient and intuitive operation

Locating a medical doctor or hospital from at anywhere in the world using the worldwide web.

Data tracing via Internet. Secured access to personal data.

 

The cost of the new, modern Touchscreen H’andy sana 210 with integrated ECG function is currently about 600 €.  The H’andy sana 210 will work on all available mobile networks. The type of provider has no impact on the function of the H’andy sana 210. 

Target group:

The H’andy sana 210 with ECG function was made for the following patient groups:

10.  People with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease:

Broad Physician Interest

GPs and family doctors now have the opportunity of performing an ECG examination, remotely, at patients home, and they are able to charge their patients for this medical service.

Validity of the 1-lead ECG from H’andy sana 210 compared with corresponding ECG-lead of a 12-lead ECG.

The validation of the 1-lead ECG (H’andy sana 210) showed identical results with the corresponding leads of a standard 12-lead ECG record. Both ECG records were tested in parallel under clinical conditions.

Dr. Hans Lehmkuhl, chief cardiologist at the German Heart Centre in Berlin, Germany was very impressed and satisfied with the quality of ECG recording using the H’andy sana 210.  Dr. Lehmkuhl commended the opportunity of recording the ECG data for follow-up with the attending physician.

 

What is the value of the H’andy sana 210 with integrated ECG function?

There are numerous benefits of the H’andy sana 210; including the following’s

1. Physicians are able to offer their patients an additional sense of security for the time period outside of the hospital or their physician’s office.
2. The H’andy sana 210 conveys a feeling of increased security for the patients due to the quick assistance and advice that is possible.
3. Patients suffering from cardiac disease don’t necessarily need to be admitted to a hospital or office in order to get additional expensive checks beyond the routine scheduled follow-up visits. By sending the recorded ECG data to the attending physician or any telemedicine centres it helps avoid unnecessary admissions to the hospital. This also has a significant impact on reducing the cost within the healthcare system and for the patients respectively. Physicians are also getting more time for other patients, and patients don’t need to waste their time for unnecessary stays in the hospital; therefore both physicians and patients are able to make better use of their time.
4. It is possible to subsequently review episodes of any kind of ‘bad heart feeling’, qualms, or cardiac arrhythmias in cases where the patients have recorded ECGs during that time.
5. ECG data can be recorded and sent via mobile connection anywhere in the world, to their attending physician.
6. Patients with a history of myocardial infarction or heart surgery are able to use the ECG H’andy sana 210 immediately after being discharged out of the hospital or rehabilitation clinic in order to perform their own ECG monitoring.
7. GPs’ and attending physicians are able to record an ECG easily during their visits to the patients’ home. In Germany it is also possible to charge either the patients or the health insurance for this examination.

 

Conclusion of the authors

Christoph Bara M.D., PhD. Dr. Bara has found the H’andy sana 210 with integrated ECG to offer a variety of benefits for his numerous heart failure and transplant patients in his practice at the University Hospital Hannover. Most of his patients visit his office, often on short notice or without a regular appointment because they don’t feel right or are uncertain regarding their heart function or feeling some sort of cardiac arrhythmia. Patients following heart transplantation have a permanent risk of rejection, and due to this risk, any changes in heart rhythm or other health changes, there is always the risk of rejection with the accompanying need for special treatment. This uncertainty can be reduced using the ECG recordings of the H’andy sana 210 and sending the data to the attending physician who is able to evaluate the situation immediately. The number of unscheduled follow-up care can be therefore markedly reduced.

Jörg Stypmann M.D. PhD., Dr. Stypmann, a cardiologist from the University Hospital Muenster agrees with Dr. Bara’s comments and also noted the H’andy sana 210 utility with patients suffering from cardiac arrhythmias, as well as a clear indication for patients suffering form chronic heart failure, and coronary artery disease.

Both Hans B Lehmkuhl M.D. PhD. and Markus Rothenburger M.D. PhD. agreed with the comments of Dr. Bara and Dr. Stypmann. They recommend additionally the patients that have undergone heart surgery, regardless of the type of heart surgery. It is very common that patients can develop cardiac arrhythmias immediately after heart surgery. Those arrhythmias are seldom harmful, but it is important to evaluate such events using an ECG recording. Again, this can be recorded easily at home with the H’andy sana 210, sent via worldwide web to the attending physician, to make the evaluation.

Andres Beiras-Fernandez M.D. PhD. from the University Hospital Munich recommended the H’andy sana 210 ECG for patients who underwent anti-arrhythmic heart surgery (e.g. Mace procedure). These patients have suffered their whole life from cardiac arrhythmias and they are fearful of developing a relapse of arrhythmias postoperatively. Therefore they have a strong need to control and monitor their heart rhythm easily at home using the H’andy sana 210 ECG.

Prof. Dr. med. Christian Joukhadar M.D. PhD. from Harvard Medical School in Boston USA, added a recommendation for using the H’andy sana 210 ECG, for a group of patients with a high risk of adverse drug events, including severe cardiac arrhythmias. The detection of such drug related adverse events is difficult and is normally only discovered during in-patient care.

Christian Günzel M.D., GP and Accident and Emergency Medicine physician from MVZ Dachau recommended the H’andy sana 210 for all physicians conducting house calls in order to perform ECG recordings during their home visits. He stated that this ECG record at patients’ home is improving the quality of the patients’ care. However, a small number of physicians already have a 12 lead ECG available during their house calls. Using a 12 lead ECG is without any doubt the better choice for an ECG record, but a 12 lead ECG is much more expensive and cumbersome. Therefore, the H’andy sana 210 represents a cost efficient and an easy to use device for recording ECGs during house calls.

Costs for the H’andy sana 210 were discussed and they all agreed that the H’andy sana 210 will reduce the cost of care for the health care system. All authors recommended the use of the H’andy sana 210 for ECG recordings in certain indications.  The H’andy sana 210 will reduce costs in the health care system and improves the quality of care and wellbeing of patients.