ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Available for over a year

Doctors in an ER in New Jersey in the US have used a patient’s Fitbit activity tracker to decide on treatment. The patient had Atrial Fibrillation, the condition where you have an irregular and often racing heartbeat. Emergency physician Alfred Sacchetti and his team needed to know when the problem had come on. But the patient had no idea, which was tricky because knowing when the heartbeat went awry determines whether or not the team administers an electric shock to reset the heart or if the patient needs weeks of treatment and hospital admission. Fortunately one of the nurses found the patient was wearing a Fitbit tracker and the data on his phone allowed doctors to reset his heart rhythm and send him home. (Image caption: Computer artwork of an ECG (electrocardiogram) trace from an unhealthy human heart © Science Photo Library)