AI-powered stethoscope detects heart disease in just 15 seconds

A new “smart” stethoscope powered by artificial intelligence can detect tiny differences in heartbeat and blood flow which are undetectable to the human ear.

Family doctors at 96 GP surgeries trialled the Eko Duo digital stethoscope, which listens to the heart and records an electrocardiogram (ECG) using an algorithm trained on a huge database of heart recordings to give a rapid diagnosis.

Heart failure affects more than a million people in the UK. In more than 70 per cent of cases, it is only diagnosed after a serious incident like a heart attack or stroke, despite previous symptoms or contact with a GP.

The upgraded kit, however, can diagnose heart failure, heart valve disease and abnormal heart rhythms in just 15 seconds.

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, a consultant cardiologist and clinical director at the British Heart Foundation, which funded the research, said: “This is an elegant example of how the humble stethoscope, invented more than 200 years ago, can be upgraded for the 21st century. We need innovations like these, providing early detection of heart failure, because so often this condition is only diagnosed at an advanced stage when patients attend hospital as an emergency. Given an earlier diagnosis, people can access the treatment they need to help them live well for longer.”

The trial, by Imperial College London, included more than 1.5 million patients who presented with symptoms such as breathlessness or tiredness at 205 GPs surgeries. At 96 of these surgeries, some 12,725 patients were tested with the upgraded kit, and patients at the remaining practices were analysed with a traditional stethoscope. If the patients were found to be at a high risk of heart failure, they had their diagnosis confirmed with a blood test for a hormone called BNP and a heart scan.

Patients tested with the new stethoscope were 3.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, which is an abnormal heart rhythm that can increase the risk of having a stroke, and were almost twice as likely to receive a diagnosis of heart valve disease.

Dr Patrik Bächtiger, from Imperial College London’s National Heart and Lung Institute and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “The design of the stethoscope has been unchanged for over 200 years until now so it is incredible that a smart stethoscope can be used for a 15-second examination, and then AI can quickly deliver a test result indicating whether someone has heart failure, atrial fibrillation or heart valve disease.”

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