Doctors of the Cardiopraxis Mainz and scientists of the Center for Cardiology of the University Medical Center Mainz report about the discovery of the cardiac circulatory disturbance detection by an Apple Smartwatch or its ECG app in the case of an 80-year-old female patient who came to the „Chest Pain Unit“ of Unimedizin Mainz with severe symptoms. She complained of possible symptoms of a heart attack, which the electronic wristwatch detected, but not an ECG recorded at the clinic and subsequent blood tests. It was only when the patient underwent a cardiac catheter examination that severe coronary heart disease was detected which, if left untreated – treated with a balloon catheter and stents – would most likely have led to a heart attack. The patient, who was trained on Smartwatches, showed pronounced depressions of the so-called ST segment, which stands for a severe acute circulatory disorder of the heart. Thanks to the recordings of her Apple-Watch, the patient could be saved. This example also shows other scientists and experts that electronic wristwatches can not only monitor cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and ECG recordings but can also detect circulatory disorders, which could prevent future heart attacks. Cardiac patients should wear digital diagnostic aids, as they could help prevent heart attacks, according to the expert panel. Researchers from the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research at Greifswald University Hospital and Basel University Hospital, in cooperation, already pointed out this diagnostic method last year in the journal „JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology“, but until then there was only evidence of cardiac arrhythmias that could be detected with Smartwatches. The identification of the cardiac circulatory disturbances was only added by the scientists in Mainz, which was triggered by the Apple ECG recording in the first case of the 80-year-old heart patient.
