Cardiologist Credits Apple Watch With Saving Man With History of Atrial Fibrillation

Posted on February 22, 2019 by Medtech[y] Staff

According to Cardiologist Dr. Phil Massey of Pacific Medical Centers in Seattle, a patient with a history of Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) was alerted to an abnormal heart rhythm from his Apple Watch Series 4. The patient had stopped taking his blood thinner medication and was not aware that the AFib had come back.

"He had been off of blood thinner and he didn't know it had come back," Dr. Massey said. "And when you have AF it can be intermittent so he could come into the office and be in normal rhythm. But then he could show me the tracking on his watch and show me that it had come back. And then we got him on a blood thinner to prevent a stroke, so that is a big deal."



If the patient had not been given the alert from their Apple Watch, it is likely they wouldn't have known of the potential medical emergency until they went in for an appointment with their cardiologist or once it was too late.

"I am hopeful that other heart rhythm problems will be able to be detected in the future outside of the doctor's office," Dr. Massey said. "And that's exciting."



Apps for the Apple Watch Series 4 were cleared by the FDA in September of 2018 and have been credited with saving a number of patient by alerting them of serious abnormal rhythms they may not have known about if it wasn't for the ECG capabilities in the watch.

You can read the original story at KIRO7.



