Will Ai Replace the Cardiologist?

Will Ai Replace the Cardiologist?

Tech startup EKO is boasting of having completed work on an algorithm that has outpaced traditional cardiologists. In a recently released study, EKO claims that their algorithm had a 93% accuracy for detecting a murmur in a heart sound wave vs 90% for traditional Cardiologists using a stethoscope.

Furthermore the misdiagnosis of common cardiac events is 80% for internal medicine and family practice physicians. So you are taking a negative 80% to a positive 93%. A huge potential leap for the ability of patients to receive low-cost healthcare that has a 93% accuracy vs an 80% failure rate.

Mobile Heart Disease Monitoring is an industry that should have many more rivals to EKO in the future as this is a potentially gigantic market. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they estimate that in the United States about 2.7 million and 6.1 million people suffer from Atrial Fibrillation, and this number will rise with the increase in geriatric population. Currently, the atrial fibrillation market is about $6 billion per year in the United States.

EKO is currently pursuing FDA clearance for their work.

Written by Yan Zimo & Edited by Alexander Fleiss