Patients who have had AF-related ablation surgery are at a higher risk of early recurrences of atrial arrhythmias. There are 9000 atrial fibrillation ablation procedures in England every year. Patients require a significant amount of care for 12 weeks post-ablation with regular visits to the hospital and GP surgery, often at short notice. Patients spend many hours waiting or travelling for ECGs and other tests.
To reduce the burden on the patient and the healthcare system, Oxford University Foundation Hospitals Trust (OUH) are testing an exciting new app called Cardiolyse. Patients install the Cardiolyse app on their smartphone and wear a device that links to the app. The easy-to-wear device takes ECGs and analyses the results instantly. It then sends the information directly to the cardiac team. Patients then receive a user-friendly report on their heart risk level, and their doctors receive a comprehensive report from the app. A traffic light system on the app will identify any critical risks as a red alert and the patient can immediately be admitted to the hospital without lengthy delays. It is hoped that findings from this research will improve patient outcomes and lead to the use of the Cardiolyse app more widely across the NHS.
Note: This research study is recruiting patients who are under the care of the OUH and meet the inclusion criteria for the project only. If your care is based at OUH and you would like to find out if you are eligible to take part please ask your cardiac specialist.