AliveCor, Mayo Clinic to use AI to help prevent sudden cardiac death

Kardia Mobile with Phone

AliveCor has teamed-up with Mayo Clinic to develop tools for medical and non-medical personnel to easily screen for congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) early by combining AliveCor’s AI technology with Mayo’s patented algorithms. LQTS is a congenital disorder that causes 3,000 to 4,000 sudden deaths in children and young adults each year in the U.S., including hundreds of infants before their first birthday.

The partnership aims to produce new methods and techniques to detect LQTS using AliveCor’s Kardia Mobile device, which in turn should enable people to practice preventive medicine on an “unprecedented scale” and “provide instantaneous results previously unavailable unless patients visited a doctor’s office.”

“AliveCor’s patented artificial intelligence technology, algorithms and millions of ECGs, paired with Mayo Clinic’s extensive data and world-leading clinical expertise will mean enhanced safety and decreased risk for many,” said Vic Gundotra, CEO of AliveCor, said in a statement. “This new technology could one day allow pharmacists, coaches and others to actively screen for and prevent sudden cardiac deaths.”

AliveCor’s device and underlying technology provides consumers with an FDA-cleared ECG, giving them a more complete view of their heart health. Also because of popularity of its Kardia devices, AliveCor is able to apply machine learning to millions of ECG recordings to gain new insights into heart health.

“The electrical heart cycle is emerging as the next vital sign. With very few exceptions, we now know that a prolonged cycle — whether caused by genetics, drugs, electrolyte disturbances or by other diseases — indicates increased risk for early death,” said Michael J. Ackerman, M.D., Ph.D., director of Mayo Clinic’s Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory. “Any of these deaths could be averted with simple preventive and/or counteractive measures.”

In addition to working with AliveCor, Mayo Clinic has also made an investment in the company; it will use any revenue received to support its not-for-profit mission in patient care, education and research.