Amazing! Your computer might be able to tell if you have a heart condition

Researchers may be able to accurately detect atrial fibrillation with just a regular laptop camera and some sophisticated software, a new pilot study reveals.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The study reveals that this new system may be as accurate as a standard electrocardiogram (ECG), via recording an analyzing footage of a person's face, that detects subtle shifts in skin color which may indicate abnormal changes in blood flow.

You can be a light in the darkness with "prayer and action."

"Existing ECG-based technologies are used only for patients who had symptoms," said Jean-Phillipe Couderc of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, who led the study.

There are "approximately 3.2 million people with [atrial fibrillation] in the U.S., and an estimated 30 million people in the world," he said.

Currently there's no way to diagnose this condition without consulting a doctor.

Atrial fibrillation (AF), is when the upper and lower chambers of the heart beat out of sync with each other. This condition can cause symptoms like heart palpitations or dizziness,  but often the condition has no signs.

An estimated 30% of people with AF do not know they have it.

In the long-term, AF can cause heart attacks or stroke.

Couderc said that the video-based system, developed with cooperation from Xerox Research Center in Webster, New York, is the first tool that can measure the electrical activity of the heart without physically being in contact with the skin.

For this pilot study program, 11 patients with diagnosed AF were scheduled to undergo ECG at the university's hospital. The researchers then set up standard web cameras to capture footage of the faces of the patients during the 15 seconds that the ECG was being performed.

The experiment was able to demonstrate that color changes corresponded with the subject's heart rate.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'