Scientists have designed an implantable medical device that warns patients about a potential heart attack through a self-monitoring alert mode.
The device, named ‘AngelMed Guardian’, alerts users through displaying a combination of vibrations, audible tones and visual warnings.
The recently designed item can be widely used, as the auditory alarms provided by implantable heart defibrillators are not useful for all patients particularly the elderly who are unable to hear the alarms.
“A vibrotactile alarm provided by the implanted device has two major advantages. First, the implanted device cannot be left behind like a portable device,” said researcher Mary Carol Day.
“Second, its alarm is more likely to be felt than an auditory alarm is to be heard even by the patient wearing heavy clothing, or is in a noisy environment.”
The device allows patients to have two levels of alarm urgency, a high-priority alarm which indicates that the patient may be having a heart attack and should call 911, and a low-priority alarm that warns the patient to require a doctor visit within 48 hours, explained researchers Mary Carol Day and Christopher Young.
The implanted medical device, which is similar in size to a pacemaker, is placed in the upper left chest along with an external device, similar to a pager that is responsible for emitting an auditory alarm and flashes a red or yellow warning light.
"If the device is approved for sale by the FDA, it might be extended in ways that will change the way the patient interacts with the system as a whole,” said Day noting that more than 30% of the US heart attack victims die before seeking medical attention.
FGP/TE