Device makes ECG’s portable
‘Pocket Echo’ speeds diagnosis
Just a few years ago, if you were rushed to hospital with chest pains, you might have waited several minutes to be hooked up to a bulky echocardiogram machine for further testing. Today, it’s a matter of seconds because cardiologists can now simply pull an smartphone-sized device from their pocket and gauge the patient’s heart health on the spot.
The Pocket Echo, a handheld ultrasound instrument with a pen-like transducer, enables cardiologists at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute to produce images of a patient’s heart instantly, allowing them to make a faster diagnosis. The hospital bought the $10,000 device with donated funds in 2012, and it has resulted in improved care and outcomes for more than 1,000 patients.
Potentially, it could also cut health-care costs by avoiding unnecessary tests and procedures.
Dr. Michel Le May, director of the coronary-care unit at the heart institute, says the device won’t replace the stethoscope, but rather complement it.
“Now we have two ways of evaluating the heart,” said Dr. Le May. “We can listen with our stethoscope, and we can actually see it with this Pocket Echo.”
He says doctors are able to take images of the patient’s body and see the heart beating, assess the chambers, measure blood flow across the valves and whether there’s inflammation or complications from a heart attack, such as tearing in the support walls.
“Traditionally when we want to take pictures of the moving heart, we use a big machine called the 2D echo,” said Dr. Le May. “You can wheel it wherever you want to but it weighs a ton. It’s just not portable.”
He says the Pocket Echo not only makes for an efficient diagnosis, but it’s also a great teaching tool.
“Our resident cardiology trainees are so enthusiastic about it,” Le May said. “And if you want to go and teach medical students, and teach them about the heart, why not look at a real heart beating at the bedside.”
He says currently there is one Pocket Echo that sits in a charging station at the heart institute, which is shared by all the staff. Dr. Le May hopes every cardiologist will have one in their pocket in the future.
“It is a transformational development,” said Dr. Benjamin Hibbert, a cardiologist at the heart institute who was instrumental in implementing the device when he was chief resident. “When I go and practise elsewhere and don’t have access to it, I almost feel naked as it’s become so much a part of what I do.”