Researchers from Bradford Royal Infirmary has designed the first in the world a revolutionary cardiac vest, which immediately alert doctors that patient having a heart attacks. Heart attack victim could be diagnosed up twelve hours earlier than the normal. Heartscape device contains eighty sensors which are attached to chest and back of a patient.
Heartscape cardiac vest will be the first which translate electric signals from the heart to doctors an instant 360 degree view of the heart. This 3-D computer image provides doctors with a more accurate picture of the organ than any other machine currently available.
The3-D computer image provide medics with detailed information within minutes about whether a patient is suffering an attack and where within the heart the problem is to be found. The conventional ECG (electrocardiograph) has its limitation, which means patients may face delay up to twelve hours, during that time continuous damage may be done.
Cardiology expert Professor W Frank Peacock, a specialist in emergency medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, has spent two days at Bradford Royal Infirmary training staff on how to use the new device in advance of it being available to high-risk patients in the hospital’s A&E and medical admissions unit from next month.
The Heartscape vest would allow speedier treatment for heart attack patients but could also identify signs of heart disease, explained Dr James Dunbar, consultant physician at Bradford Royal Infirmary. Existing conventional machines are insensitive for diagnosis of heart disease. This new Heartscape vest will help us gain an instant in-depth 3D view, making it easier to interpret whether a patient is having a heart attack.
It will enable treatment to start earlier and hopefully will lead to improved patient outcomes. Prof Clive Kay, trust medical director stated, the Heartscape cardiac vest would help identify high-risk patients, more quickly and ensuring faster treatments at a time when every minute counts.
They are excited about the potential impacts that Heartscape could have on the patients. If the Heartscape proves successful, this could have major, positive impact for patients across the NHS, particularly when trying to rapidly diagnose or exclude CHD (coronary heart disease) in the A&E department, added Paul Knee, managing director of Verathon Medical UK LTD, manufacturers of the Heartscape vest.