Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

A device is being tested that is supposed to alert people when they are about to have a heart attack.

It is called the Guardian.

The way it works is a pacemaker-like device is implanted in the chest and connected to the heart. It transmits data to a small pager-like machine patients wear on their belt.

"It can detect any decrease in oxygen or suggestions of changes in the blood flow to the heart, which usually the cause of that is a heart attack," said Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Hamid Taheri who is testing the device in Virginia.

When these changes occur, the device in the chest will vibrate and the pager will beep. If a yellow light is flashing, that means there has been a non-emergency cardiac event, like a heart arrhythmia, and the patient should see a doctor within 48 hours.

If the light is red, the patient could be having a heart attack and should immediately go to the emergency room.

The Guardian is already being used in Europe and Brazil.

In the U.S., doctors are testing it on people who had a heart attack within the last six months.