Heart and cardiovascular diseases - such as atrial fibrillation (AFib), heart failure (HF) and coronary artery disease (CAD) and subsequent heart attack - are the most common causes of death in Europe, accounting for 3.9 million fatalities, and €210 billion in health costs per year.
Early identification and treatment of AFib, HF and CAD would help prevent strokes and heart attacks, and improve outcomes for individuals and society. This is currently hindered by several key problems:
(1) Hard to Detect: Heart conditions are dangerously asymptomatic: for example 2/3 of all AFib cases present no perceivable symptoms. For 30% of CAD patients, the first symptom is a heart attack. Up to 90% of HF patients can’t identify the symptoms. For
at-risk individuals, regular monitoring and detection would enable early treatment and save lives.
(2) Expensive Equipment: Cardiologists now diagnose heart conditions using electrocardiography (ECG) and computed tomography angiography (CTA). These expensive processes require professional operation in clinics. Other health gadgets require purchasing additional hardware to use in conjunction with a smartphone, which can be costly. Therefore with current solutions regular monitoring of large numbers of patients is not scalable.
(3) Patient Confusion: Patient delay is a major cause of mortality from heart attacks. Unaware of the severity, patients are often reluctant to seek help. Others are over-precautious burdening doctors with unnecessary screenings. Early detection and at-home follow-up would cut costs and save lives.
CardioSignal, the smartphone application by Precordior, acts as a measurement device that records heart movement using the built-in motion sensors. The sensor data is sent for analysis to the CardioSignal cloud service. This enables scalable technology with virtually infinite possibilities to introduce cardiac detection and monitoring capabilities for any telehealth, digital therapy, and self-monitoring solutions in the future – a true point-of-care solution in heart diseases.
Precordior’s mobile application CardioSignal already has the detection capability for the most common cardiac arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation (AFib), and is a certified CE Class IIa medical device. Up to ¼ of the population will suffer from AFib during their lifetime, and it’s the single most important cause for strokes. The detection of AFib with CardioSignal is in the core of Precordior’s mission – Your Life, Our Priority. In this EU-funded project, Precordior will bring new detection capabilities to the market for increased heart health: the detection of Heart Failure and the detection of Coronary Artery Disease, using the same measurement method with a simple smartphone and its built-in motion sensors. The market entry for these revolutionizing new capabilities will take place in 2022.
