ECGs on the move, thanks to Israeli ingenuity

If your doctor orders an electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) to check your heart rhythm and blood flow or to diagnose a heart attack, a technician will stick 10 or 12 adhesive electrodes to your chest, arms and legs. A computer then creates a graph showing the electrical impulses moving through your heart while you’re lying still or exercising. That’s how an ECG is done today. Advanced wearable technologies from Israel aim to change the procedure radically.

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CardiacSense

With CardiacSense and HealthWatch, all you’ll have to do is put on a watch-like device or a special shirt and the ECG takes care of itself while you go about your day. ISRAEL21c takes a look at these two close-to-market startups, plus two startups developing wearable sensor modules for measuring heart metrics, one for home use and one for hospital use. Founded in Caesarea as Sportracker in 2009 to develop a watch-like wearable device for sports heart-rate readings, the company pivoted to medical monitoring about three years ago and rebranded as CardiacSense. Clinical trials at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in 2016 showed the device achieves 99.9% sensitivity and 99.01% specificity, on par with a conventional ECG but with the major advantage of noninvasive, electrode-free continuous monitoring. -- More...

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