Electrocardiography (ECG) is widely used to evaluate the ischaemic state of the patient’s heart by detecting cardiac arrhythmias, signs of acute or old myocardial infarctions and, for instance, left ventricular hypertrophy. Electrocardiography has played and continues to play an important role in many trials. The Electrocardiography Core Laboratory technique of Cardialysis offers the following services:

Holter Electrocardiography Equipment and Analysis
Long-term (24 or 48 hour) Holter recording is a non-invasive tool that is particularly suitable for detecting and/or monitoring cardiac arrhythmias in (ambulant) patients over time and in particular during the administration of new investigational drugs. In addition, Holter Electrocardiography can be used to measure cardiac rhythm, ST deviation, and QT segment interval analysis and heart rate variability.

Resting 12-lead ECG Analysis
For safety analysis in cardiac and non-cardiac trials, 12-lead ECGs are qualitatively analysed. This analysis, consisting of arrhythmia diagnosis, heart rate measurement and diagnosis of infarction and ischaemia, is performed by trained analysts under the supervision of a cardiologist and according to the trial protocol definitions. For efficacy analysis a more detailed quantitative analysis is performed in which all abnormalities are diagnosed and coded. This analysis includes the measurement of PR, QRS and QT intervals.

ICD-analysis
The Intra Cardial Defibrillator (ICD) Core Laboratory technique offers the possibility to analyse ICDs from all companies. This is under supervision of a trained specialist and offers the possibility to classify arrhythmias as they are stored in ICDs. Given the fact that ICDs are more and more used to record events, this has an important potential for clinical trials.