By Diagnostics World Staff
July 19, 2017 AliveCor and the Mayo Clinic today announced a collaboration to develop tools for medical and non-medical personnel to easily screen for long QT syndrome (LQTS), a heart rhythm condition that can cause rapid heartbeats. AliveCor plans to combine its AI technology with Mayo’s patented algorithms to detect LQTS early.
LQTS is both a congenital and acquired disorder; the inherited form leaves 160,000 people in the U.S. vulnerable to this deadly disease and causes 3,000 to 4,000 sudden deaths in children and young adults annually in the U.S. The acquired form of LQTS is often caused by medications, such as antibiotics and antidepressants, prescribed to many millions of patients every year.
The collaboration aims to identify new methods and techniques to detect LQTS for AliveCor’s Kardia Mobile device, an FDA-cleared mobile ECG solution that costs $99 and is about the size of a pack of gum. Kardia Mobile syncs with an AliveCor mobile app, so far taking and recording EKGs for patients to share with their doctors. The Mayo collaboration envisions a tool will enable people to practice preventive medicine on an unprecedented scale and provide instantaneous results previously unavailable unless patients visited a doctor’s office.
“To prevent this type of sudden death, increased awareness and screening is critical. AliveCor’s patented artificial intelligence technology, algorithms and millions of ECGs, paired with Mayo Clinic’s extensive data and world-leading clinical expertise will mean enhanced safety and decreased risk for many,” said Vic Gundotra, CEO of AliveCor in a press release. “This new technology could one day allow pharmacists, coaches and others to actively screen for and prevent sudden cardiac deaths.”
Michael J. Ackerman, director of Mayo Clinic’s Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory, agrees. “This agreement makes our vision of universal screening for the early detection of long QT syndrome—a potentially lethal, yet highly treatable condition—one step closer to reality. The electrical heart cycle is emerging as the next vital sign. With very few exceptions, we now know that a prolonged cycle—whether caused by genetics, drugs, electrolyte disturbances or by other diseases—indicates increased risk for early death,” he said. “Any of these deaths could be averted with simple preventive and/or counteractive measures.”