Award-winning device to reduce deaths from heart disease

 

27 May 2002

 

An innovative idea to develop a personal heart attackdetector that can reduce the number of deaths from heart attacks in Britain haswon the BUPA sponsored 'Medical Futures Best Innovation to Improve Patient Care'award.

 

Consultant physician Dr Michael Vassallo of the RoyalBournemouth Hospital developed the idea of a personal heart attack detectorthat would inform patients immediately of any heart problem. Dr Vassallo workedwith his colleagues Savvas Constantinidis, a Specialist Registrar in cardiologyand Mr Joseph Vassallo, an electrical engineer.

 

Currently there are 140,000* deaths each year in Britainresulting from a heart attack. This concept represents a significantdevelopment in the struggle to reduce these numbers and a major advance onprevious technology.

 

Award winner Dr Vassallo explains how his winninginnovation works: "The immediacy of the detector's notification of apossible heart problem is the key to this concept. It would mean patients cango to hospital or call an ambulance without delay to get vital clot-bustingdrugs. These drugs dissolve the potentially life-threatening clot that causesthe heart attack and unblock the artery. Currently over 40 percent of patientsadmit to waiting more than an hour before seeking medical help for their chestpain. Many patients wait even longer. As a result around 30 percent of heartattack patients die before reaching hospital. The longer patients wait beforeseeking medical attention, the more damage can be done - often with fatalconsequences.

 

Dr Vassallo said: "I am delighted to win this awardand extremely excited to take this innovation to its development stages. Ireally hope that the finished product will impact significantly on heart attackdeath rates."

 

The detector will hold an image of the patient's healthyelectrocardiogram (ECG) - which traces the heart's function - in its memory.The portable detector is hand held and when any chest pain is experienced, thepatient applies it to their chest and their ECG is re-traced. The device willcompare this ECG reading to the one it holds in its memory. The detector isdesigned to pick up any changes in these ECG traces.

 

When the device detects any change to the original ECGpattern that may require medical attention, the detector alerts the patientimmediately via an in-built alarm and LED display.

 

Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen, BUPA group medical director andMedical Futures Awards judge said: "BUPA is very proud to be associatedwith these awards and to support the future of medical technology and patientcare. The calibre of entries in the BUPA-sponsored award was impressive and itwas extremely difficult to choose only one winner. All the judges wereincredibly enthusiastic about Dr Vassallo's entry and were really struck by itspotential to significantly reduce the number of deaths by one of our country'sbiggest killers."

 

Dr Andy Goldberg, an orthopaedic surgeon and founder ofMedical Futures said: "The medical profession houses a wealth of knowledgethat generates ideas that can revolutionise patient care. Yet through a lack oftime, money and opportunity, the vast majority of great ideas never get off theground. Recognising this situation, a group of dynamic doctors came together tocreate the Medical Futures Awards."

* source- British Heart Foundation