Replacing our ECG machine: Biolog and Cardioview review

Originally published in GP magazine .

Written for GP magazine around 2002. This is the version I submitted - the published article may have been edited.

Trying to be as paperless as possible, my partners and I felt that our old single-channel ECG machine, with its faded printout that had to be cut up and glued onto a piece of paper then filed in notes that we never got out, was an anachronism. When it started to go wonky we decided it was time to replace it.

We initially planned to scan ECGs into our computer system; however, I came across the Cardioview software and Biolog ECG machine. Cardioview is a Windows-based ECG viewer and interpreter. It allows you to choose multiple different views and provides facilities to interpret the ECG and print it out to any printer. It is easy to use; it defaults to a 12-lead view, though any number of leads can be viewed and examined, measurements are calculated automatically and multiple ECGs can be compared side by side. ECGs can even be emailed to other users, though they need to have the reader software, which only costs £100 and many hospitals may already have it.

Using a PC to do the work and printing means that there is no longer a need for a big bulky machine and reams of expensive ECG paper. Three machines are available; the simplest is a cable that connects to the back of a PC, useful when ECGs only take place in one room. The deluxe version comes on a Compaq iPAQ that can record multiple ECGs before needing to be uploaded; you can even get a Bluetooth add-on that means the ECGs are automatically transferred without cable from up to 10m away!

We went for the Biolog, which is a tough grey box with plastic screen and a couple of buttons, just a bit bigger than a Dictaphone. It is battery powered so it can be taken anywhere, and the 12-lead cable connects into it. It has all the usual filters and on pressing a button records all leads for 10 seconds. It also has some electrodes on it that can be pressed onto a bare chest to give a real-time single-lead view on the screen. Download of the ECG into the PC is easy, though a drawback is that it needs to be done after each recording.

Installation was done over lunchtime; the engineer doesn’t have to touch the fileserver, only install the main software on the upload machine and the reader software on each desktop. A whole day’s training is included and more can be arranged; however, it is easy to use and most problems can be sorted out on the phone. There is an extendable one-year guarantee on the Biolog and eight weeks on the cable, though this may go up to one year, which is impressive as not many companies guarantee cables. It integrates superbly into EMIS and I believe it is just as good with some versions of TOREX and VISION.

We have nothing but praise for it, and the only problem we have had so far is one PC that inexplicably refuses to run the viewer software properly.