THE STORY OF BIOPOTENTIAL OY LTD.

The story of BIOPOTENTIAL Oy Ltd begins with the founder and chairman, cardiovascular surgeon Heikki Riekkinen MD, PhD, who developed an interest in electrocardiology (ECG) during his medical studies. While conducting research for his doctoral thesis, Dr. Riekkinen discovered an unexpected phenomenon – there was no correlation between ECG amplitude measurements and hemodynamic parameters in left ventricular overload. Intrigued, he set out to uncover the reason behind this discrepancy. 

Further investigation revealed that the poor correlation was due to intraindividual variability caused by the variation of ECG amplitude placement and individual weight changes of the subjects. In a study involving blood donors, Dr. Riekkinen discovered a small but highly significant decrease in ECG T-wave amplitudes after even a small and symptomless decrease in blood volume, when the electrodes remained in situ. 

It is now well known that many factors, such as aging, hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy and coronary artery disease, can decrease the elasticity of the myocardium and arteries, resulting in a decrease in left ventricular end diastolic volume. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in most countries. Thus, cardiovascular aging is a crucial determinant of health and lifespan for those who escape mutations and malignancy. Reproducible and individually corrected T-wave amplitude measurements can detect even small changes in cardiovascular elasticity caused by such diseases and can aid in early diagnosis.