Heart disease is the number one killer, responsible for 18 million deaths per year. And like most things when it comes to our health, early detection of a problem can save lives.
Diagnosing heart disease early is difficult because you have to go to the hospital to get scanned.
In order to get images of your heart you need to get an Ultrasound, CT-Scan PET scan, or Cardiac MRI scan of your heart.
Well, there may be another option available soon.
Researchers from the University of California-San Diego have developed a new device that is so small you can use it during a regular day.
The problem with portable heart monitors is that they are bulky and don’t capture what the patient would be doing on a normal day because they can’t go out and do things with the monitor on.
This new device solves this problem.
The new wearable heart monitor is a postage stamp-sized device that uses ultrasound technology to assess both the structure and function of the heart. It can stay on the wearer’s chest for up to 24 hours and works even during strenuous exercise. It provides real-time, automated insights on the difficult-to-capture pumping activity and uses an AI algorithm to measure how much blood the heart is pumping.
The device also provides much better images with higher resolution and contrast than existing non-invasive methods and minimizes patient discomfort and overcomes some limitations of non-invasive technologies such as CT and PET.
It is connected through cables to a computer, which downloads the data automatically, but the team has already developed a wireless circuit, which will be more appropriate for clinical use.
Read more >> Stamp-size wearable heart monitor can take medical images without going to a hospital
