Prescription Health: Smartwatch helps diagnose student athlete’s heart condition
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Connor Heinz has big dreams as a point guard for his high school.
Until recently, that was becoming harder and harder to do.
"My heart just started beating really fast, like really hard," Heinz said. “Then I had to leave practice, 'cause we still didn't know what it was at the time.”
Heinz and his mom, Amy, sought out Dr. Scott Ceresnak, a pediatric cardiologist at Stanford Medicine Children's Health.
“We had a suspicion for Connor that he had an arrhythmia such as SVT, supra ventricular tachycardia, or fast heartbeat coming from the upper chambers of the heart,” Ceresnak said. “That usually is not life-threatening, but it's usually very uncomfortable for patients."
To confirm his diagnosis, Ceresnak needed a reading of Heinz’s heart rate during an episode.
“We tried multiple monitoring tools for Connor, but were never able to capture an episode," Ceresnak said.
That's why Dr. Ceresnak suggested a smartwatch instead, which can also monitor the heart, but be worn anytime.
“The key was just trying to document and really get a good EKG recording of an arrhythmia episode,” Ceresnak said.
Heinz then wore his mom's watch anytime his heart started racing, and also at basketball try-outs.
With a confirmed diagnosis, Heinz’s arrhythmia was corrected through a routine procedure to get him back to doing what he does best.
Dr. Ceresnak believes smartwatches are going to change the landscape of how hospitals care for kids moving forward. His next step is launching a study to design algorithms for smartwatches based on the information gathered from pediatric patients.
Watch the video above for the full story.
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