DOCTORS can now use AI stethoscopes to spot heart conditions faster and earlier to save lives.
Artificial intelligence has upgraded the centuries-old technology to spot critical problems in 15 seconds.
The device, the size of a playing card, works by recording the sounds of blood flow and scanning electrical activity in the chest and then comparing the results to a database of readings from healthy and diseased hearts.
It can then alert the doctor to potential illnesses if results match key red flags.
A trial on nearly 13,000 patients at 96 NHS GP surgeries in London found they were two to three times more likely to get a diagnosis than if their doctors used classic stethoscopes.
The AI stethoscope was tested on patients with symptoms like breathlessness, tiredness or leg swelling.
Doctors followed up alerts from the algorithm with traditional heart tests.
The gadget can spot heart valve disease, heart failure and irregular rhythms known as atrial fibrillation.
It is more sensitive than the human ear and analyses data at lightning speed.
Experts hope it can be rolled out on the NHS to catch serious diseases earlier and save lives.
Professor Nicholas Peters, from Imperial College London, said: “Our study shows that three heart conditions can now be identified in one sitting.
“Importantly, this technology is already available to some patients and being widely used in GP surgeries.”
Pressure pill boost
A BLOOD pressure drug that could help millions of Brits cut their stroke and heart attack risk has been labelled “a triumph of scientific discovery”.
Daily pill baxdrostat was found in tests on almost 800 patients to reduce levels of a hormone called aldosterone.
That had been previously found to increase blood pressure by causing water and salt retention.
Trial chief Dr Bryan Williams, of University College London, told a conference: “It is a potential game-changer for patients.”