Medical Minute: Smartwatch Helps Doctors Diagnose Heart Ailments In Children

While treatments for adults with abnormal heart rhythms are common, there are fewer devices available for children. Now, a new innovation is helping to solve that problem.

Arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm, typically occurs in seniors, but it can happen at any age. Between sporadic symptoms and heart monitors designed for adults, diagnosing kids can be challenging. However, a pediatric cardiologist has found an innovative solution using a device many kids are already wearing.

Connor Heinz has big hoop dreams as a point guard for his high school team. Until recently, that was becoming harder and harder to do.

"My heart just started beating really fast, like really hard," he said. "It lasted for about 20 minutes and then all of a sudden stopped. And then I had to leave practice 'cause we still didn't know what it was at the time."

That's when Heinz and his mom, Amy, sought out Dr. Scott Ceresnak, a pediatric cardiologist.

"We had a suspicion that Connor had an arrhythmia such as SVT, supraventricular tachycardia, or a fast heartbeat coming from the upper chambers of the heart. That usually is not life-threatening, but it's usually very uncomfortable for patients," Dr. Ceresnak explained.

To confirm his diagnosis, Dr. Ceresnak needed a reading of Heinz’s heart rate during an episode. "We tried multiple monitoring tools for Connor, but we were never able to capture an episode," he said.

That's why Dr. Ceresnak suggested a smartwatch instead. Smartwatches can also monitor the heart and be worn anytime. "The key was just trying to document and really get a good EKG recording of an arrhythmia episode," he said.

Heinz began wearing his mom’s watch anytime his heart started racing, including during basketball tryouts. "We put it on, and it started recording these crazy high beats," Heinz recalled. "And so, we felt like we were catching an episode in real time."

With a confirmed diagnosis, Heinz’s arrhythmia was corrected through a routine procedure, allowing him to return to what he does best.

Dr. Ceresnak believes smartwatches are going to change the way hospitals care for kids moving forward. His next step is launching a study to design algorithms for smartwatches based on the information gathered from pediatric patients.

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