Apple watch that helps saves lives, particularly in women with heart conditions, is coming to Aus
The latest Apple watch with a feature that could save the lives of 330,000 Australians could soon be available here. And pairing it with a revolutionary new Australian-researched surgery, could mean the difference between life and death for so many.
Victoria
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A wrist watch could save the lives of Australians with an increasingly common and sometimes fatal heart condition.
Alerting people with an irregular heart rhythm to a possible health emergency, the Apple Watch Series Five ECG app and Irregular Rhythm Notification features are available in the United States, Europe and elsewhere but has not yet been approved for sale by Australia’s health products’ watchdog.
Victorian heart expert Professor Peter Kistler - who has pioneered a new surgery for women following world-first research - said the watch could help people with atrial fibrillation, or AF.
“It will give you an alert if it detects AF... when your heart is out of rhythm,” he said.
Already affecting more than 330,000 Australians, AF is projected to increase by a massive 60 per cent over the next 15 years.
The condition dramatically increases the risk of heart failure, stroke and premature death.
Apple said it was “working hard” to bring its latest watch features - which could also take electrocardiograms or ECGs - to Australia.
The head of electrophysiology at Melbourne’s Baker Institute and Alfred hospital, Prof Kistler said he used a component of the new Apple Watch technology in his research into “the gender gap” in AF treatment.
That groundbreaking study revealed men responded far better to traditional cardiac ablation surgery for AF than women, many of whom continued to have potentially deadly heart problems after an operation, Prof Kistler said.
Cardiac ablation involves scarring the part of the heart which triggers an abnormal heart rhythm, and is used when medication is not working or has negative side effects.
Prof Kistler said a new surgical procedure for women had been developed on the back of his research, which it was hoped would better repair the hearts of women and save lives.
Funding from the Baker Department of Cardiometabolic Health - recently established at Melbourne Medical School – would allow the revolutionary surgery to be trialled across five sites in Victoria as well as in Canberra, Adelaide, the United Kingdom and Canada, he said.
“We want to improve the success of this procedure and have developed a new method that targets a bigger area in the heart’s left atrium. It’s a more time consuming procedure, but we’re hoping to show it can produce a better success rate in patients,” he said.
“Although AF is more common in men, women make up a significant proportion of the people with persistent AF, those who experience longer lasting symptoms despite medication or other treatments.
“Women’s lives are at risk and we must get better at treating them . . . we must shift priorities away from a focus on AF as a predominantly male condition to examine the gender differences . . . and close the treatment gap.”
One of the first women to have the new surgery, Jenny Seddon, 57, said she “hasn’t looked back” since the operation.
“ I feel great,” the Melbourne woman said.
“I don’t feel tired and puffed anymore and I can just get on with my life.”
READ MORE:
FUN WAYS TO GET THE KIDS MOVING IN LOCKDOWN