FDA approves ‘smart’ stethoscopes for doctors
Eko Devices, a smart medical device startup, had its Eko Core product approved by the FDA last week. This opens up the possibility for doctors to start using Eko Device’s ‘smart’ stethoscopes on patients.
The company’s device upgrades your standard stethoscope into an intelligent one (well, relatively). By inserting the Eko Core into the tubing of a traditional device, doctors can take digital recordings of patient heartbeats using Bluetooth technology. The recordings can then be wirelessly transmitted to Eko’s HIPAA-compliant smartphone app, or web portal.
The $200 device (the full, non-analog stethoscope goes for $100 more) will allow doctors to chart heartbeats, with the ability to send them to specialists for closer examination. For patients, that means less waiting around for test results.
“It’s the first time the oldest and newest tools in medical toolkit are being married,” said 23-year-old Jason Bellet, co-founder of Eko Devices. “We can track [heartbeats] over time — from childhood to adulthood.”
While this isn’t the first intelligent stethoscope out there, it’s the only one that connects to your smart phone, or can wirelessly transfer heart recordings.
The stethoscope hasn’t changed since it’s original design from 200 years ago, and is one of the last remaining ‘old-school’ doctor tools that hasn’t gone digital.
“It has been stuck in the analog world,” said Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Charanjit S. Rihal in an interview with CNN. “With heart sounds, even if you’re good at examining patients … then what? It’s in our heads, we make diagrams, but a year later, do [doctors] really remember what you heard? The answer is they cannot.”
Eko, who’ve received $2.8 million in funding, are moving towards cardiovascular innovations as their next project.
Photo credit: Pixfiction/Shutterstock