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Clinical Applications  - Signs of Heart Failure in Emergency Room

 5 million people visit the Emergency Room per year with heart diseases; nearly 1 million die. Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a disease of epidemic proportions. More than 4.5 million Americans have CHF, with about 550,000 new cases of CHF diagnosed each year.

New appearance of  S3/S4 heart sounds and soft S1 sounds are good indicators of cardiac
ischemia and heart attack. Detecting them early can help to alarm individual patients early on
and to speed up emergency care.

See example below. 

It is common to hear an S3 after an acute heart attack. This usually disappears several days or weeks afterward. Persistent S3 after this time may mean more severe heart damage. In a study of patients awaiting heart transplant, an S3 was one of 7 risk factors predicting a poor prognosis.

Current ACC/AHA Guidelines recommend that patients with unstable angina and a concurrent auscultated
S3 be classified in the group at highest risk for adverse outcomes and considered candidates for an early invasive strategy. (Braunwald, E., Antman, E.M., Beasley, J.W., et al.,  ACC/AHA guideline update for the management of patients with unstable angina and non–ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction –2002/2006: summary article: a report of the American College of cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Committee on the Management of Patients With Unstable Angina), Circulation )

 

                  S3 Heart Sound Detection – Emergency Patients
                             
                              Heart Energy Signature Method detects S3 heart sound which is highly specific
                              (80-90%) for heart failure and low ejection fraction.

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Copyright: 2004-2008 BioSignetics Corporation
Last modified: 01/01/08