New Heart Monitor App Can Save Your Life, Study Says

A new application offers cardiac patients an emergency room in the palm of their hands.

The AliveCor app acts as a "clinical grade" ECG monitor and is a new international study to prove its accuracy.

The findings, presented at the recent 2018 scientific session of the American Heart Association in Chicago, showed that the application and the monitor of the pulse that accompanied it were a reliable alternative to the treatment. Electrocardiogram (ECG) used in hospitals to diagnose "the most serious – and most deadly" heart attacks. .

The massive initiative was led by the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City and included additional research conducted by Duke University, Stanford University, Mayo Clinic, Catholic University (Argentina), AliveCor Corporation and other associations and universities specializing in cardiovascular health.

The researchers administered a standard ECG and the AliveCor system to 204 participants with chest pain. Generally, an electrocardiogram is used to determine if a patient is having a very severe form of heart attack during which the artery is totally blocked, called ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). They found that AliveCor was effective at detecting STEMI and non-STEMI heart attacks.

"If a person feels chest pain and has never done it before, she might think that it's just an insect or gas and that she will not go to the emergency rooms, "said lead researcher, Dr. J. Brent Muhlestein. declaration. "It's dangerous, because the faster the opening of the blocked artery, the better the results for the patient."

For comparison: the new Apple Watch Series 4 has a probe, which means that it detects heart attacks from a single source and that the hospital's ECG has 12, because the heart attack is manifested in different parts of the body.

The AliveCor application is equipped with a two-lead accessory, which is then moved around the body to collect information on each of these 12 parts. It then collects this data in the cloud and sends it to a cardiologist, who can analyze the results on the spot and ask you to go directly to the emergency if necessary.

Its compact package and price of $ 99 (or $ 9.99 per month) makes it a particularly powerful tool for its accessibility and could have a significant impact in low-income communities and third world countries.