High Tech Early Warning System for Heart Attacks
Updated 5:46 PM PDT, Wed, Sep 23, 2009
More than one million heart attacks occur in the U.S. each year and, sadly about a third of victims die before they ever get to a hospital. Now, a medical innovation being tested right here in southern California may possibly save many lives. It's a device that can warn you of the risk of heart attack, before you get symptoms.
Bruce Fischer recently had a five vessel heart bypass operation. “There was some severe blockage in several of my arteries. One was 98.9 so it was severe enough that it would led to some heart attack of some kind,” he said.
Like many people Bruce had no idea he was in imminent danger of having a heart attack. He didn't have any of the classic symptoms: “I never experienced any kind of pain. We did aggressive treadmill and I still didn't get pain from any of that ”
So Bruce is one of the first people to get a system that will act as an early warning system to prevent future heart attacks. It’s called the Angelmed Guardian System. A small device is inserted into the skin below the collarbone and connected by a wire to the heart. It detects, analyzes, and stores the patient's crucial heart signal data.
Dr. Omid Vahdat, Cardiologist at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, explains: “It basically monitors the EKG of a patient constantly, and if there are changes consistent with schemia, or blockage, it will warn the patient to get medical attention.”
It will provide that warning whether or not there are any symptoms. If there is a problem, a separate external hand held device beeps and flashes. One beep to signal to the patient to see the doctor, five beeps to go to the ER.
“This system doesn’t rely on symptoms, it has a direct connection to the heart. So it’s able to detect changes that go along with a heart attack earlier than a patient is able to detetct themselves,” according to Nick Nudell, Senior Field Clinical Engineer at Angel Medical Systems.
Since half of the people who die from heart attacks do so because they don’t get treatment soon enough, systems like this could mean the difference between life and death. For Bruce and his family it already means peace of mind.
“I’m a believer in trying to read what your body is trying to say. And this gives me information so I can act on it,” he said.
For more information on the clinical trial for Angelmed Guardian System, go to http://www.memorialcare.org/angelmed or call (877) 933-3297.
First Published: Sep 23, 2009 5:27 PM PDT
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