“There is an app for that”. A phrase that was used extensively in Apple’s marketing campaign is now reaching heights that could only have been imagined earlier. There is now an app that can actually detect an incoming heart attack. A new medical device has been designed which could turn your phone into a lifesaver. Designed as an implant, the device can detect anomalies in blood and can issue a warning to your phone if it detects problems that pose a threat to one’s life. Developed by a group of scientists at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, this is the world’s smallest implant ever. The transmission of data takes place over Bluetooth and could even warn you in case there is an existent threat of a heart attack.
There are symptoms before a heart attack that indicate the possibility of the same. This device is designed to detect these symptoms and accordingly warn the user of the existent threat. Generally, fatigued (oxygen starved) muscles start to break down, which prompts a heart-specific protein that smoothens the muscles (triponin) to be dumped into the blood. If this release of triponin can be detected before uneven heartbeat rhythms or even a heart attack, life saving care can arrive just in time to administer necessary treatment to save a life.
The device is also designed to track levels of glucose, lactate and ATP, which are considered important for physiological monitoring. The implant is powered through a wireless charging protocol provided by a 100 mW battery outside the body. Dr. Leigh Vinocur from the LSU Health Science Center said that the implant possesses varying possibilities of use which include monitoring glucose levels in case of diabetic patients. However, she described the connection i.e. the transmission of data to a smartphone could pose several problems. For example, when a user enters a region without cell service, how would the device respond? Another challenge that the device would need to surpass is that of getting the approval from the FDA.
It is a fact that triponin is not an accurate measure of the possibility of a heart attack. The substance is released only 4 hours after a heart attack and detection may be possible only after 16 hours of the attack, implying that detection will be late in a majority of the cases. Dr Vinocur stated that a more logical approach would be studying heart rhythms to detect the beginnings of a heart attack. These are some of the challenges that this device needs to surpass if it is to be deployed on a mass scale.
