AI Stethoscope Startup
Shazam for Heartbeats
Eko Health is a San Francisco startup who have developed an Artificial Intelligence solution to cardiac monitoring.
By combining a smart digital stethoscope with machine learning, doctors are able to let Eko compare the data output from the digital stethoscope with the data of millions of similar tests to determine whether patients have a potentially dangerous heart disease which would otherwise be missed.
“With this collaboration we hope to transform the stethoscope in the pocket of every physician and nurse from a hand tool to a power tool,” said Paul Friedman, M.D., Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. “The community practitioner performing high school sports physicals and the surgeon about to operate may be able to seamlessly tap the knowledge of an experienced cardiologist to determine if a weak heart pump is present simply by putting a stethoscope on a person’s chest for a few seconds.”
Following a $65million Series C funding round, Eko plan to invest in clinical trials to demonstrate its positive impact on both costs and patient outcomes. They also want to expand the use of their product to include asthma, pneumonia and chronic-obstructive pulmonary disease.
