Glia Electrocardiogram (ECG)

An electrocardiogram (ECG) records the electrical activity of the heart and is a fundamental diagnostic tool. Despite recent advances in bringing more affordable ECGs to market, there still exists a shortage in low-resource settings not met by the devices currently available. The Glia model aims to address this need as a low-cost high-quality option.

Several prototypes of the ECG have been built, including one that was built specifically for an upcoming clinical trial by Dr. Tarek Loubani in the Division of Emergency Medicine at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) during his work as an emergency physician and employee of the University and Hospital. The research group at London Health Sciences Centre is currently awaiting approval from the Health Sciences Research Ethics Board (HSREB) at Lawson Health Research Institute to begin clinical trials. These trials seek to validate the device and compare it to the gold standard 12-lead ECG device (MAC 5500 HD Resting ECG System, GE Medical Systems) used in the standard of care at LHSC emergency departments.

Presently, the device is only being manufactured by Dr. Tarek Loubani in LHSC while he is on the clock as an emergency physician for clinical trial purposes.