What You Should Know:
– Eko, a digital health company advancing heart and lung disease detection, today announced the launch of its newly-redesigned Eko App, which will transform patient interactions into an opportunity to screen for cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and there has not been an efficient and affordable solution to screen for heart disease at the physical exam until now.
– Eko has transformed the traditional stethoscope into an intelligent disease detection tool to help clinicians spot cardiovascular disease easier during the physical exam. Their line of smart stethoscopes, when paired with its accompanying automated disease detection software using the Eko App, analyzes heart sounds with FDA-cleared and clinically proven AI algorithms.* In seconds, the algorithms can detect heart murmurs and atrial fibrillation (AFib)** with comparable performance to human experts.
Clinically Validated Algorithms to Identify Heart Murmurs & Atrial Fibrillation
Eko’s AI algorithm to identify heart murmurs, a leading indicator of heart valve disease, was clinically validated to perform at a sensitivity of 87.6% and specificity of 87.8%. Their algorithm for detecting atrial fibrillation performed at a sensitivity of 98.9% and a specificity of 96.9%. Real-world validation of Eko’s heart murmur detection algorithm came from a recent, peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of the American Heart Association. It was the largest study on AI analysis of cardiac murmurs to date.
“Eko’s technology has given me the added assurance to detect and verify heart murmurs and atrial fibrillation in my patients,” said Joanna Kmiecik, MD, Family Medicine Specialist. “The ease-of-use and portable nature of Eko’s products helps me to examine patients right in my office, with minimal impact to my physical examination routine. If I hear a heart sound suspicious of disease, Eko accurately confirms it in seconds. This helps me to determine care decisions and refer to a specialist confidently when appropriate. My patients even enjoy how they can engage with the app, and I feel I am a better clinician.”
