September 9, 2009 – Royal Philips Electronics unveiled its PageWriter TC50 cardiograph, which uses gender-differentiated criteria to assist in the diagnosis of heart disease in women, where symptoms may be different from men.
The PageWriter TC50 was launched at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2009 Aug. 28.
Tests for diagnosing coronary artery disease have been traditionally developed and tested in men. For example women make up only 38 percent of the participants in cardiovascular studies funded by the National Institutes of Health in the United States. But women with coronary artery disease often complain of different symptoms from men and show clinical differences as well, with damage more often occurring in smaller blood vessels with fewer arterial blockages, a condition called microvascular disease. As a result, more women than men with heart conditions can show normal vessels in spite of their worsening symptoms. Negative or unclear tests in women can often mean heart disease goes missed and untreated.
Philips has been developing diagnostic tools that take gender differences into account since the 1970s. The company’s PageWriter TC50 cardiograph allows healthcare professionals to easily and efficiently take and record ECGs. The PageWriter TC50’s sophisticated analysis program, the DXL Algorithm, uses different criteria for men and women to help clinicians interpret cardiac symptoms, including identifying acute global ischemia, the restrictions of blood supply to large areas of the heart.
For more information: www.philips.com
October 09, 2025 
