Your heart’s working hard – but how hard, exactly?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Your “stroke volume” is how much blood your heart pumps with every beat! It’s crucial info during sepsis, surgery, and shock. But it usually means bulky machines or… poking around inside you. Is there a less invasive way?
Enter Jon-Émile Kenny and team from Health Sciences North.
They tested a tiny ultrasound sticker that monitors blood flow.
Volunteer wearers did squat-stand exercises, putting their hearts to work! The patch detected stroke volume changes with over NINETY PERCENT accuracy! Just like hospital monitors!
A simple, wireless sticker that tells how well your heart pumps? Well, that gets a gold star from me!
Reference: Kenny, J.-É. S., Barjaktarevic, I., Eibl, A. M., Parrotta, M., Long, B. F., Eibl, J. K., & Michard, F. (2020). A carotid Doppler patch accurately tracks stroke volume changes during a preload-modifying maneuver in healthy volunteers. Critical Care Explorations, 2(3), e0072. https://doi.org/10.1097/CCE.0000000000000072