An arrhythmia (ah-RITH-me-ah) is a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat. During an arrhythmia, the heart can beat too fast, too slow, or with an irregular rhythm. During an arrhythmia, the heart may not be able to pump enough blood to the body. At present, arrhythmia is detected by an ECG monitor in the clinic or a hospital.

At Ideatech, as a result of our medical device engineering R & D efforts, arrhythmia detection is incorporated within a pulse oximeter; a medical device capable of measuring a patient’s blood-oxygen saturation and the pulse rate. Patent is in the process of submission.

The signal processing technology uses pulse by pulse filtering to provide pulse oximetry measurements even in the presence of motion. The sensor is placed on a thin part of the patient’s body, usually a fingertip or earlobe. Light of two wavelengths is passed through the patient to a photodetector. The software is quite involved in determining any arrhythmia event.