Fighting Silent Heart Attacks

Akash Manoj is accredited with developing a novel technique that might save lives and his TED talk on silent heart attacks goes into further detail about the device. Funded by the Government of India and deeply motivated by the loss of his grandfather, the young speaker comes up with a non-invasive and affordable device that can detect silent heart attacks.

Statistics point that the casualties of heart attacks reach nearly eight million people annually. While the occurrence presents itself with symptoms like chest pain, arm pain, fatigue, etc, there are instances where the indicators fall silent. These instances account for nearly 45% of all heart attacks and are linked to a number of concerns -- from the unawareness of having to seek medical treatment to the extensive and expensive subjection to tests upon doing so. These symptomless cases are particularly common in people with nerve damage.

Akash Manoj's talk on silent heart attacks shares an efficient, effective and affordable solution that will give people a piece of mind. The speaker's contribution comes in the form of an "inexpensive, portable, [and] wearable, [noninvasive device]" that collects data about the level of cardiac markers, specifically biomarkers found in the earliest stages of a heart attack. The device is a silicon patch that can be worn in close proximity to the organ and can detect a heart attack-specific biomarker called H-FABP. If critical levels of it are reached in the bloodstream, the device alerts the wearer that they need to seek immediate medical attention. Upon testing, the results showed 96% accuracy and sensitivity for the device.