Tag: EKG

Viz.ai Receives FDA Approval for its HCM Detection Algorithm

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Viz.ai has received FDA approval for an artificial intelligence algorithm that can spot HCM from a standard electrocardiogram or EKG.

The algorithm automatically reviews EKGs as they are performed, and alerts the cardiology care team if it identifies a patient with suspected HCM.  Then, the care team is able to follow up with the patient and conduct further testing, if deemed appropriate.

The technology was developed through a collaboration between Viz.ai and Bristol Myers Squibb that was announced earlier this year.

Artificial Intelligence Identifies HCM in Children and Adolescents

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A study by researchers from Mayo Clinic recently published in the International Journal of Cardiology found that a deep learning artificial intelligence algorithm using a standard 12 lead electrocardiogram was able to detect hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in young people with impressive accuracy. This accuracy was particularly strong among adolescents aged 15 – 18.  

Mayo has been looking at artificial intelligence for its potential to screen populations for HCM for some time now.  Here is a previous HCMBeat story about Mayo’s work on artificial intelligence from February 2020. 

 

 

 

Risk Assessment in HCM Children

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A recent study published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology found that a 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG) was not useful as a screening tool to determine which children were at increased risk of sudden death and therefore, a candidate to receive an implantable defibrillator. 

The full article can be found here.

Apple Watch Spots AFib

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The software update which allows the Apple Watch 4 to take an EKG and to detect atrial fibrillation went live last week. In anticipation of the availability of these functions, I purchased an Apple Watch 4.  As soon as the software was available, I downloaded it and have used it every day since. So far, I am quite pleased with my purchase.  The technology works very well, even despite the fact that I have an implantable pacemaker/defibrillator.

The strip it takes looks like this:

EKG Picture Apple WAtch

You can send a strip via email to your doctor, and all are saved for posterity on your Iphone.  (NOTE:  YOU MUST HAVE AN IPHONE CAPABLE OF RUNNING THE SOFTWARE IN ORDER TO USE THE WATCH).

And, as long as you tell the software that you have never been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, if it detects atrial fibrillation while you wearing the watch, it will send you an alert.  I haven’t gotten such an alert yet and hope not to!

This article provides a pretty accurate history of handheld consumer EKG devices along with a description of what it is like to download and use the Apple software.

And here is a story about a man whose watch spotted his previously undiagnosed Afib. After a trip to the emergency room, he was able to receive proper treatment and avert a potential health crisis.