Handheld ECG Tracking of in-hOspital Atrial Fibrillation The HECTO-AF trial Clinical Study Protocol

Background/rationaleAtrial fibrillation (AF) is frequent and causes great morbidity in the aging population. While initial events may be symptomatic, many patients have silent AF and are at risk of ischemic embolic complications. Timely detection of asymptomatic patients is paramount. The HECTO-AF trial aims to investigate the efficacy of an electrocardiogram (ECG) handheld device for the detection of AF in patients in hospital without a prior diagnosis of AF.Methods/designThe “Handheld ECG tracking of in-hospital atrial fibrillation” (HECTO-AF) study is a single-center, open-label, randomized controlled trial. The study population consists of all adult patients admitted to a general medicine ward of the University and Hospital of Fribourg throughout the study period. The study will enroll 1600 patients with 1:1 ratio allocation to either the detection group with one-lead handheld ECG recordings twice daily and extra recordings in the case of palpitations, versus a control group undergoing detection of AF as per routine clinical practice. Recordings will be self-performed after dedicated training, and will be independently adjudicated through a specific web-based interface. All enrolled patients will be followed clinically at 1, 2 and 5 years to assess the occurrence of AF, death, non-fatal stroke, systemic embolism, myocardial infarction and bleeding. The primary outcome is incidence of newly detected AF during the hospital stay. Secondary outcomes are incidence of AF, cardiovascular death, stroke, myocardial infarction and bleeding complications at 1, 2 and 5 years.DiscussionHECTO-AF is an independent randomized study aiming to detect the incidence of silent AF in all-comers hospitalized in general medicine wards.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03197090. Registered on 23 June 2017. Local ethical Committee (CER-VD) registration number: 2017–01594. There are no conflicts of interest to declare.