Smartphone Technology Puts A Heart Monitor At Your Fingertips
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A handful of apps and devices are highly sophisticated and even approved by the FDA for medical use. Now smartphone technology puts a heart monitor right at a patients fingertips.
69-year-old Tom Cooney always has a bag packed. "Yeah, I do a lot of traveling. Thousands of miles sometimes a week."
Cooney also has Atrial Fibrillation, a common heart condition often monitored by a portable EKG, but commuting with a heart monitor was difficult until now.
"You can do this everywhere except in the air," he said while using his phone to monitor his heart condition. "If you can get a connection, you can do this."
He was part of a trial at Cleveland Clinic testing new technology that combines a smartphone case wired with electrodes, and an app to record heart rhythm.
Dr. Khaldoun Ctarakji of the Cleveland Clinic said, "You just hold your phone and make sure your fingers are touching the metal plates on the back of the device and it records your rhythm strip."
Researchers say the recordings from the smartphone device were comparable to those from traditional monitors.
"As far as the recordings themselves, they have excellent sensitivity and specificity so it did the job," said Ctarakji.
Recordings can be saved and then emailed for interpretation by a doctor. Tom says the technology makes monitoring his heart more convenient and gives him peace of mind.
"I could tell if there is something different with my heart than normally when I'm looking at this, so yeah, it makes a difference, gives me a sense of confidence as to where I am and what I should do."