AliveCor – the medical smartphone accessory company led by former Google exec Vic Gundotra – today announced the “Kardia Band,” the “first medical-grade EKG band” for the Apple Watch. The company also announced a new smartphone app for users of its current heart-rate reading devices.
From the AliveCor press release:
The Kardia Band for Apple Watch, and new Kardia app, represent a significant breakthrough in proactive heart health by allowing people to discretely capture their EKG anytime, anywhere.
Users can record a single-lead EKG by simply touching Kardia Band’s integrated sensor that communicates with the Watch app, Kardia by AliveCor™. The Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Detector then uses Kardia’s automated analysis process (algorithm) to instantly detect the presence of AF in an EKG, the most common cardiac arrhythmia and a leading cause of stroke. Also included is the Normal Detector, which indicates whether your heart rate and rhythm are normal, and the Unreadable Detector, which tells you when to retake an EKG so physicians receive only the highest quality recordings.
Users will also be able to record voice memos on their Apple Watch to accompany each EKG, hopefully describing the symptoms at the time of the EKG – such as heart palpitations, or perhaps any external factors, such as caffeine intake before the reading – that could give doctors and caregivers a clearer picture of what was happening at the time of the recording.
The Kardia Band also integrates with Apple’s Health app, to include the EKG data, as well as steps and calorie intake, to give a clearer, richer analysis over time. The Kardia Band is currently awaiting 510k clearance by the Food and Drug Administration, and is not yet available for sale in the U.S. The company says the device could be available to purchase as soon as “late spring.” No price has yet been set.
AliveCor has also rebranded its first device, the $99 AliveCor Mobile ECG, under the new Kardia brand name as Kardia™ Mobile. The change is an effort to establish a family of products under the Kardia branding, to make the Kardia name synonymous with proactive heart health. The new Kardia app is available now for download for iOS and Android users.
For more information, and to be kept in the loop about the Kardia Band, sign up on the AliveCor website to be notified when the Kardia Band will be for sale.
