Point-of-care cardiac screening solution honored at sixth annual awards program for improving detection of heart disease
OAKLAND, Calif., May 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Eko, a digital health company advancing heart and lung disease detection, today announced that, for the second consecutive year, it has won the “Best Use of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare” award at MedTech Breakthrough’s annual awards program. MedTech Breakthrough is an independent market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies, and products in the global health and medical technology market. This year’s program attracted more than 3,900 nominations from over 15 different countries throughout the world.
Eko’s FDA-cleared and clinically proven AI algorithms can improve cardiac disease detection for all frontline clinicians without disrupting their workflow, creating more opportunities to detect heart disease early for more patients. Eko’s line of smart stethoscopes analyzes heart sounds and ECG. In seconds, the algorithms* can detect heart murmurs and atrial fibrillation (AFib)** with comparable performance to human experts. This technology provides frontline healthcare professionals with a reliable, affordable, and scalable solution to screen for cardiovascular disease.
“Heart disease is one of the most significant medical problems we have in America today, and with an ever-growing aging population, the incidence of heart failure and valvular heart disease will continue to increase,” said Connor Landgraf, Co-founder and CEO of Eko. “By putting disease screening technology in a device found on the neck or in the pocket of every healthcare professional, any patient interaction now becomes an opportunity to screen for cardiovascular disease. When signs of heart disease are detected early on, we can help expedite care decisions, decrease healthcare costs, and save lives.”
A study has shown Eko’s AI algorithm to identify heart murmurs, a leading indicator of heart valve disease, to perform at a sensitivity of 90.0% and specificity of 91.4%. Their algorithm for detecting atrial fibrillation was clinically validated to perform at a sensitivity of 98.9% and a specificity of 96.9%. Real-world validation of Eko’s heart murmur detection algorithm came from a peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of the American Heart Association. It was the largest study on AI analysis of cardiac murmurs to date.
“Having adequate access to care is a major contributing factor in the diagnosis of structural heart disease in America, and in some communities, upwards of 60 or 70 percent of patients go untreated,” said Dr. Antoine Keller, Co-founder of HeartSense and Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Ochsner Lafayette General Hospital. “At HeartSense, we confront this issue with our community heart screening events, in which we employ Eko’s smart stethoscopes and Eko App. At these events, we typically screen 30 to 50 patients in a couple of hours, and Eko’s technology has been instrumental in our ability to identify indicators of structural heart disease at scale.”
“For the first time, artificial intelligence is being applied to heart sounds acquired by a stethoscope to address these issues,” said James Johnson, Managing Director of MedTech Breakthrough. “The result is improved diagnosis and this technology from Eko is a true breakthrough in every sense of the word. Congratulations, once again this year, for defining what our award program is all about and being our choice for Best Use of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare.
*For healthcare professional use only
**Atrial fibrillation detection only available when Eko App is used with Eko DUO ECG + Digital Stethoscope
About Eko
Eko, a digital health company, is advancing how healthcare professionals detect and monitor heart and lung disease with its innovative suite of digital tools, patient and provider software, and AI-powered analysis. Its FDA-cleared platform is used by hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide, allowing them to detect earlier and with higher accuracy, diagnose with more confidence, manage treatment effectively, and ultimately give their patients the best care possible. Eko is headquartered in Oakland, California, with over $125 million in funding from Highland Capital Partners, Questa Capital, Artis Ventures, DigiTx Partners, NTTVC, Morningside Technology Ventures Limited, Mayo Clinic, Sutter Health, and others. For more information visit www.ekohealth.com.
About MedTech Breakthrough
Part of Tech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence and recognition platform for global technology innovation and leadership, the MedTech Breakthrough Awards program is devoted to honoring excellence in medical and health related technology companies, products, services, and people. The MedTech Breakthrough Awards provide a platform for public recognition around the achievements of breakthrough health and medical companies and products in categories that include Patient Engagement, mHealth, Health & Fitness, Clinical Administration, Healthcare IoT, Medical Data, Healthcare Cybersecurity and more. For more information visit MedTechBreakthrough.com.
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