Friends, imagine if heart failure can be detected early on, through a routine check-up at the doctor’s clinic instead of ECGs and other tests at a later stage. That too through an instrument with whom we are familiar with stethoscope. A SMART STETHOSCOPE is a medical device that could screen the heart failure in primary care. Here the technology used is Artificial Intelligence (AI) that could accurately identify people with this disease. Heart failure means that the heart is too weak to pump sufficient blood around the body. Currently, the condition is usually diagnosed in the hospital.
In the case of Smart Stethoscope, the doctors use a stethoscope (to listen heart sounds) with additional sensors to record an ECG ( an electrocardiogram, a measure of the heart’s electrical activity). Then the AI takes over (via a computer program) to analyse the ECG readings. As per the medical experts this smart stethoscope can identify people with heart failure, with accuracy rate of over 95%. This tool could be used to diagnose heart failure earlier, in primary care. It could help General Practitioner (GP) to priortise referrals to secondary care for the patients who needs specialist treatment.
As mentioned earlier, the heart failure is a condition when heart fails to pump sufficient blood around the body to meet its needs. As per the medical experts, in our country about 10% of the people have this condition, which in long term can gradually worsen. Heart diseases can severely limit the quality of life.
Heart failure is usually diagnosed through an emergency hospital admission. However, many people first have symptoms such as breathlessness, ankle swelling or fatigue. GPs can only advise for some blood tests to see how well the heart is working. But the symptoms could be caused by other conditions, which leads to delay in referring the patient to specialists. The sooner people receive treatment, the better the outcome. Early diagnosis and treatment of heart failure is a goal of medical team.
ECG machines use electrodes to monitor the heart’s rhythm and electrical activity, but these machines are often not available in primary care. An alternative, cheap and easy-to-use tool for monitoring heart conditions could be this Smart Stethoscope.
Why Smart Stethoscope could become an important tool ?
As per the medical experts, the smart stethoscope can accurately screen for heart failure in 9 out of 10 times. Its sensitivity and specificity are similar to the findings of ECG machine. This could allow GPs to detect the cases of heart failure earlier, and referrals to secondary care could be more accurate, because GPs would not have to rely only on symptoms of heart failure (such as breathlessness and being overly tired) that can be caused by many conditions.
This device requires little training, so non-experts can use it following simple instructions. However, doctors will need to trust this tool before they use it. GPs may be more willing to use smart stethoscope that ECG devices with a single lead because they are familiar with stethoscopes. The tool is not very expensive and could be used in even poorer countries to diagnose heart failure where there is limited access to specialists heart services. The cost in India of the smart stethoscope could vary from Rs 25,000 to 50,000.
Finally, the smart stethoscope could encourage GPs to refer patients for specialist care more quickly. This could mean they start treatment without waiting for an ECG, the current gold standard test for heart failure. In future, the smart stethoscope could be used to detect other heart conditions related to electrical activity (such as atrial fibrillation). Similarly, it could be used to diagnose conditions based on heart sounds, such as conditions related to heart valves. This would not be possible with a regular ECG. Many of the smart stethoscopes from different manufacturers have been approved by the FDA in India, for the use.
Waiting for your feedback on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
19th September 2024