If patients would take action during the first hour following symptom onset, many lives and significant cost could be saved. It is technically possible to monitor EKGs and detect an acute infarction, even if the patient is unaware that he or she is experiencing a heart attack. However, currently available systems have limitations in the home environment. Twelve lead EKG systems require a clinically trained individual to place them. Holter monitors suffer from limitations in the ability to detect ST deviation due to low compliance and are limited in practice to 24 to 72 hours of monitoring. Systems using surface leads are all subject to noise and other artifacts from patient movement and body orientation, particularly if the patient is ambulatory.