NIH-funded study to test if Apple Watch can prevent strokes, limit blood thinners

 FYI.

NIH-funded study to test if Apple Watch can prevent strokes, limit blood thinners

Researchers at Northwestern University and John Hopkins University plan to study if an Apple Watch app can help prevent strokes.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a National Institutes of Health division, awarded a $37 million grant for researchers to test whether Apple Watches can be used as part of a strategy to cut down the use of expensive blood thinners used to prevent strokes from atrial fibrillation.

2nd MRI center reports problems with Apple devices

So you will need to leave your Apple products completely outside. Hope you can trust your medical staff to handle this for you as you come in from your stroke.
https://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=mri&pag=dis&ItemID=123411
By Brian Casey, AuntMinnie.com staff writer

November 1, 2018 -- A second imaging facility is reporting problems with Apple devices that appear to be related to the operation of the center's MRI scanner. Nearly 10 late-model Apple iPhones and Watches were permanently disabled at a Delaware center after it ramped down its MRI magnet.

CNMRI is an imaging facility in Dover, DE, that specializes in neurology and sleep medicine. It operates a 1.5-tesla MRI magnet and also performs studies such as polysomnography, nerve conduction, and home sleep studies, according to Dr. Robert Varipapa, a neurologist at the center.
In mid-October, field service engineers from an imaging OEM arrived and ramped the magnet down and then back up again. Immediately thereafter, staff members at the center who owned Apple devices with wireless charging reported that their devices were disabled. Approximately eight or nine devices were affected, according to Varipapa.
Only newer-model Apple products such as the iPhone 8 and iPhone 10 were affected, he added. Those with older models didn't experience any problems, nor did staff with Android phones.
The Delaware center's experience is similar to that of an Illinois hospital that also reported conflicts between its MRI scanner and iPhones. That site reported that nearly 40 iPhones stopped working after the installation of a new MRI scanner. The problem was attributed to helium gas that may have leaked during the installation and found its way into the mechanical workings of the phones.
But there are also crucial differences between the Illinois incident and the experience at the Delaware center. For one thing, the Delaware site never experienced a helium leak, to Varipapa's knowledge. Also, while the Illinois site reported problems with Apple models at the iPhone 6 level and above, in Delaware the problem was restricted to newer models with wireless charging -- no iPhone 6 devices were affected, Varipapa told AuntMinnie.com.
Finally, at the Illinois hospital, some of the iPhones began working again after the helium inside the devices apparently dissipated. At CNMRI, all of the smartphones were permanently disabled, and staff had to get new ones.
Varipapa said CNMRI's physicist told him that the center's experience is not an uncommon one. The physicist has heard that some field service engineers tell staff members to place smartphones in their cars' glove boxes when MRI magnets are being serviced, he said.

Apple Watch may soon be able to warn of a potential stroke

I bet your insurance plan will not pay for it, but they will pay for your stroke intervention and rehab costs. 

Apple Watch may soon be able to warn of a potential stroke

A device that’s embedded in a new wristband for the Apple Watch marries two existing features—the heart rate monitor and activity sensors—and takes them to a new level using artificial intelligence.

The KardiaBand from AliveCor uses a neural network to predict and analyze the wearer’s heart rate based on his or her history and a trove of cardiovascular data from both sick and healthy people. The device measures the heart rate every five seconds and tells users when it’s out of their expected range. It doesn’t apply a generic range—instead, it determines what’s abnormal for the user.

The Apple Watch already uses machine learning to identify when the heart rate spikes abnormally, but this personalized approach goes a step further. When the device realizes the person wearing it is out of range, it will prompt him or her to record the heart's electrical rhythm, using electrocardiogram (EKG) technology built into the wristband. The process involves placing a thumb over the sensor for 30 seconds while the results appear on the face of the watch. A recording is then available to send to a doctor.

Portable EKG readers that work with smartphones have been around for years, allowing consumers to check their heart’s electrical activity at will using a separate device. The crucial issue was knowing exactly when to do it. For people in danger of cardiovascular-related complications such as stroke, devices like this may soon play a critical role in helping wearers avoid a health emergency.

“This is continuously monitoring your heart rate to let you know if something is potentially off track,” said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and a professor of molecular medicine who isn’t involved with the technology. “That’s the big difference.”

“This is the first time I've seen artificial intelligence on a smart watch,” said Topol, who is also a cardiologist. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

The reading could help detect dangerous electrical abnormalities such as atrial fibrillation. The condition, marked by an erratic rhythm that can lead to deadly blood clots and strokes, develops in about one-quarter of people over age 40.

The technology, however, doesn’t come cheap. The KardiaBand, the first medical device accessory approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use with the Apple Watch, sells for $199. Users also have to subscribe to AliveCor’s premium service at a cost of $99 a year.

Apple Announces New Apple Watch Series 3 With Cellular Capabilities and Expanded Wellness Features - arrhythmias

You'll have to ask your doctor if the existing smartphone apps out there for atrial fibrillation do a good enough job to diagnose your problems. 

Apple Announces New Apple Watch Series 3 With Cellular Capabilities and Expanded Wellness Features - arrhythmias

Today, at Apple's annual keynote presentation, the company announced its upcoming fall launches. Among them: a new Apple Watch operating system, watchOS 4, and a brand new Apple Watch Series 3 model with LTE capability. At the event, SELF learned that both have some exciting new fitness- and health-tracking features.

Here's a quick look at the new updates.

The latest operating system comes with useful activity tracking updates and the ability to sync with gym equipment.

The new operating system, Apple watchOS 4, which will be available for download on September 19, 2017 to all Apple Watch users, has updated activity tracking features, like a new HIIT workout option, and auto tracking during swimming workouts. There will also be a new gym feature that will sync with your gym equipment—like treadmills or stationary bikes from brands that partner with Apple on this—so that you can just tap your watch and send your workout metrics to it.

The Heart Rate app will be able to track your resting heart rate throughout the day. It can also alert you to irregular heartbeats.

The Heart Rate app is also getting some high-tech updates to help users better monitor their health. The monitor will now track resting heart rate by taking background heart rate readings throughout the day, and recovery heart rate, or how long it takes your heart rate to return to rest after exercise. There will also be a new feature that notifies you when the monitor detects an elevated heart rate but you don’t appear to be exercising.

Apple is also taking advantage of its heart rate technology (it’s the most-used heart rate monitor in the world, says Apple COO Jeff Williams) to launch a new initiative to help detect irregular heartbeats, or arrhythmias. Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia, and is one of the leading risk factors for stroke, according to the National Stroke Association. But often, it's asymptomatic, making it hard for people to know if they have it. Initial studies show the Apple Watch heart rate monitor has been effective in finding irregular heart rhythms, Williams says, so Apple is partnering with Stanford Medicine to launch Apple Heart Study and explore how the watch can help monitor heart conditions in users. The study will use data from the watch to analyze heartbeat and notify users of irregular activity.

Apple Watch can detect early signs of a stroke using AI

I bet your doctor doesn't suggest you use this to detect atrial fibrillation. So don't diagnose yourself with AF before your doctor does. Wrong title, it might detect signs of a risk for stroke. The president of our great stroke association would be contacting the reporter on this and getting the headline corrected. 

Apple Watch can detect early signs of a stroke using AI

Libby Plummer

Yahoo Finance UKMay 12, 2017

 

The Apple Watch could save lives by spotting early signs of a stroke, according to new research.

When paired with AI algorithms, the smartwatch can detect atrial fibrillation – the most common form of an irregular heartbeat – 97 per cent of the time, according to a study from app maker Cardiogram and UCSF Health lab.

Atrial fibrillation is the cause of one in four strokes, so it’s hoped that the smartwatch software could eventually help to prevent strokes happening in the first place.

The Cardiogram app could eventually be used to spot early signs of a stroke (Cardiogram)

In the study, data from 6,158 users of the Apple Watch Cardiogram app, including 200 participants with atrial fibrillation, was used to train a neural network on the watch’s heart rate readings, .

The software was trained to tell the difference between those with the heart condition and those without.

Accurately detecting heart attacks and strokes with Apple Watch and fitbits

Or you could do the expensive testing in the hospital. 

Accurately detecting heart attacks and strokes with Apple Watch and fitbits

Heartbeat measurement app Cardiogram and the University of California, San Francisco used the Apple Watch for 97 percent accurate detection the most common abnormal heart rhythm when paired with an AI-based algorithm.
The study involved 6,158 participants recruited through the Cardiogram app on Apple Watch. Most of the participants in the UCSF Health eHeart study had normal EKG readings. However, 200 of them had been diagnosed with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (an abnormal heartbeat). Engineers trained a deep neural network to identify these abnormal heart rhythms from Apple Watch heart rate data.
About a quarter of strokes are caused by an abnormal heart rhythm, according to Cardiogram co-founder and data scientist for UCSF’s eHeart study Brandon Ballinger.
Two-thirds of those types of strokes are preventable with relatively inexpensive drugs.
Digital health company AliveCor and Rochester, MN-based Mayo Clinic are teaming up to glean new insights from data captured with AliveCor’s mobile ECG device.
The Mobile EKG sticks onto the back of a smartphone and uses the Kardia app to determine abnormal heart rhythm, and determined it was as good as other EKG devices used in the doctor’s office. The Mayo Clinic felt invested in AliveCor’s latest $30 million round.

Together, the Mountain View, CA-based company and Mayo will apply AliveCor’s machine learning technology to 10 million ECG recordings taken by users of the company’s Kardia product, an FDA-cleared mobile device that pairs with smartphones to measure electrical activity in the heart. The goal is to “uncover hidden physiological signals to improve heart and overall human health,” according to a press release.
In particular, the findings could lead to insights about the relationship between cardiac arrhythmias and changes in blood potassium levels, which can indicate kidney failure.
“Working with Mayo Clinic, we are hopeful that soon physicians will be turning to ECG data for the care of many types of patients, not just those with typical cardiovascular issues,” Dave Albert, MD, AliveCor’s chief medical officer, said in the press release.