What if you could prevent a stroke with your mobile phone? One in four strokes are caused by atrial fibrillation, a common and often symptomless form of cardiac arrhythmia. A new research-based company, Heart2Save, offers a mobile ECG solution enabling anyone to detect arrhythmias with their smartphone.
Helena Jäntti and the Heart2Save app.
Based on scientific research, the analytics software can diagnose heart arrhythmia reliably, and it can also be used on a simple handheld ECG device connected to a mobile phone via Bluetooth. “Simply press the ECG device against your chest, and it will tell you if your cardiac rhythm is normal or not,” says Helena Jäntti, PhD, a specialist in emergency medicine, who founded Heart2Save together with UEF medical physics researchers with sound expertise in signal analysis.
Atrial fibrillation prevents proper blood flow in the heart, which may lead to the formation of blood clots. They, in turn, can travel to the brain and cause stroke by blocking brain arteries. However, atrial fibrillation often gives no symptoms, so it may go unnoticed until it causes a stroke.
It has been estimated that two-thirds of such strokes could be prevented if atrial fibrillation was diagnosed in time and anticoagulation therapy was initiated accordingly. “Few of us have an opportunity to go to a hospital for repeated ECG screening, but a simple handheld ECG device could easily be used for heart monitoring by professionals and those at risk. This way, more people would get treatment early enough.”
One in five women and one in six men are likely to have a stroke before the age of 75, so prevention is a huge concern. The company also envisages a complete service where a smart watch alerts the user of pulse irregularities and the mobile ECG device diagnoses arrhythmia and transmits the results to the doctor. The complete analytics service will be on the market at the end of this year, when medical regulatory approvals have been completed.