🔵 Insufficient signal quality caused by the phone

This case describes a 73-year-old male with a history of heart failure, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation (AFib). A FibriCheck spot check initially captured a good-quality AFib pattern. Around 45 seconds into the measurement, the PPG signal abruptly dropped out, consistent with a phone-related issue in which the device stopped collecting usable PPG data.

Following this dropout, the AI flagged the recording as insufficient signal quality and rejected the measurement for rhythm analysis. The tachogram and trace therefore show two distinct phases within one minute: a valid AFib segment followed by a greyed-out, non-interpretable segment caused by technical signal loss. Importantly, this user experienced only a single occurrence of a phone issue; the other 75 recordings showed no quality problems.

Takeaway
Smartphones are consumer devices, and occasional technical or hardware-related factors can disrupt PPG acquisition. It is clinically essential to detect and flag such dropouts to avoid misinterpretation. Robust signal-quality assessment is therefore a critical component of PPG-based rhythm interpretation, ensuring that only reliable data contribute to clinical insight.

🧠 Put your PPG rhythm interpretation skills to the test!

Think you can distinguish between AFib, ectopy, and other rhythm patterns on PPG recordings?
Take our short FibriCheck PPG Interpretation Test and challenge yourself with real-world examples.

💡 Designed for healthcare professionals and nurses — sharpen your diagnostic eye and see how your interpretations compare!

👉 Start the test here