Tools and devices that will take care of your heart

According to the stats, cardio-related problems is still the top reason for the maximum number of deaths per year.

This is not only in the US but also around the world. Here in this article, we are going to know about all the current technologies and devices invented in the health sector to keep track of the heart’s performance via portable ECG devices.

Many of those devices like smartwatches, smartphones, fit bands offer us the advantage to care for our heart and keep track of its performance all the time. The technology used in these devices is so smart that once it used heavy machines or specialized equipment for the purpose but today this is possible even with these small devices.

A simple example is the smartphone camera, which measures heart rate through a process known as photoplethysmography.  The Apple Watch Series 4 and 5 can also carry out that process to take ECG readings by using Light Sensitive Photodiode and infrared light.

Let us now look at how and what technological advancement has happened in the cardio care field.

 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE DIAGNOSIS

Ultronics is a UK established AI company that employs technology to diagnose cardiovascular disease. It has also received a grant amount of $10M to further its product and make it commercially available. It is the most recent advancement in the cardiology space.

Artificial Intelligence is a technology that allows massive amounts of data to be fed into algorithms which then assist physicians in making the best decisions about the health of their patients.

BLOCKCHAIN IN CARDIOLOGY SPACE

After proving its efficiency in various industries from banking to, real-estate now blockchain technology is slowly gaining momentum in the healthcare world.

When it comes to cardiovascular diseases, this technology is helping doctors to provide faster treatment to the patients. It’s a life-saving technology.

Farasha, a startup headquartered in France and the U.S. has designed the first-watch to analyze, alert, and prevent cardiovascular diseases in real-time using artificial intelligence and blockchain smart contracts.

One might wonder what is this “smart contracts”?

They are a computer protocol designed to make digital transactions faster and more secure. Smart contracts are also used to store patient records in a digital ledger.

This innovative idea holds a lot of benefit for Farasha.

First, patient information becomes extremely hard to hack.

Second, blockchain guarantees reliable and fast data exchangeability, which means patients will get timely access to diagnostic services and treatment.

It also ensures that providers get accurate payments.

Farasha took a leap ahead and created the cryptocurrency for transactions removing the third-party banks and made the payment more feasible.

We all are aware of the critical condition of heart patients they probably don’t have enough time to collect all their reports and send them to a doctor for a referral. In this case, this technology comes handy and this makes our work quickly. Thanks to Farasha.

Who has ever thought of such a thing!

Voice-enabled technology is already making impressive strides towards improving health outcomes for heart disease patients.

All of us have heard of Alexa, the leader in speech recognition technology.

After a heart attack, very few of us know about a kind of therapy one should give to the patient, people rarely know about CPR or about the symptoms of a heart attack. Thanks to Alexa who is always ready to help the one in need. Through speech, one can get to know how to perform CPR by self. Through Alexa giving, CPR has become as easy as ordering anything from Amazon.

Medical device manufacturer Omron Healthcare built a new Alexa skill that will allow patients to manage their blood pressure. High blood pressure is the cause of heart failure and diabetes.

Since the human ear cannot perceive sound so, a Rochester-based medical center discovered that a voice-analyzing report can help detect coronary artery disease based on a patient’s tone and intensity.

CHATBOTS

Since high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases are the most frequent causes of return visits for doctors, so chatbots provide a helping hand to the patients at an early stage.

Chatbots are artificial intelligence messaging programs. They are an automated channel for collecting information that doctors can use to make a health assessment and decide what medicine, if any, should be prescribed.

That’s all for technology, now let us have a quick glance at the new innovation in the cardio space:

1. Google Glass

Google Glass is the best example of wearable computing technology. These glasses rest on your face just like any other piece of normal specs. But this mini-computer can take pictures, record videos, and wirelessly transmit data. Physicians can now handle the procedures free-handed without having to handle cameras. It’s highly useful during coronary angiography.

2. Bioresorbable stents

During an artery-opening angioplasty, a tiny mesh tube called a stent is placed that releases drugs into the body vessel to keep them open. But it’s not as simple as it seems sometimes  clots can form inside stents new type of stent that gradually dissolves within a year or so may help sidestep that problem is called bioresorbable stents

But some experts hope further advances in the technology may allow bioresorbable stents to replace metal stents in the future.

3-Protein patch for heart muscle growth

Heart muscle cells suffer damage due to the first cardiac arrest. These cells thereafter cannot fully regenerate, scars tissue forms instead. This makes it tougher for the heart to pump blood effectively. So scientists carried out this experiment on an animal’s hearts using mice and pigs. After sewing the protein patch on the heart, cardiac cells actually began to grow. So scientists are hoping to begin human clinical trials of the patch within the next two years.