We addressed arrhythmias—abnormalities in what is considered a normal heartbeat—that can appear harmless at first but can be indicators or even increase the risk of more serious heart-related problems such as cardiac arrest and stroke. With the constant rise in heart disease and heart-related deaths, the afflicted age range lowering, and medical costs rising, a change was needed within the healthcare system to find more effective and affordable ways to detect arrhythmia within patients. We recognized that creating a convenient, wearable at-home heart monitoring device that provided constant detection of heart signals would aid tremendously in combating this pressing issue.
We developed an ambulatory, long-term cardiac monitoring (LTCM) device with the ability to detect heart signals, identify arrhythmias that occurred, including atrial fibrillation (AFib), and notify the patient and physician when these irregularities were occurring, allowing both an easier and more convenient way to diagnose, treat, and prevent heart related injuries or deaths. By reading heart signals, notifying patients and physicians when there were spikes or episodes of abnormal heart behavior, and recording these abnormalities for later analysis, this device could save patients from facing more dire consequences or invasive procedures.
While challenges arose due to numerous competitors of at-home heart monitoring devices already existing, our device stood out by being wearable for constant monitoring, small and convenient so that the patient hardly noticed they had it on, and sending data straight to the physician so that immediate action could be taken when necessary. Additionally, our device targeted a different range of arrhythmias that were not currently able to be detected by devices in market and was wearable for longer periods of time than current competitors.