Apple Watch Saves Doctor’s Life By Diagnosing Critical Heart Disease

The Apple Watch has lots of health features that have come in very handy for many users, and in certain instances has even been life-saving. Some users were notified of irregular heart beat rhythms early that regular checkups missed, allowing them to get treated earlier. Now a new story has come out about another life-saving situation.

This one involves Antelope Valley Hospital’s Dr. Donald W Milne, who shared a story about how his Apple Watch detected a critical heart disease that others missed. He said the following:

“I have the first generation of the Apple Watch to be able to do heart monitoring. I know that the primary intended use is to monitor for atrial fibrillation. As a 66 year old anesthesiologist I use my watch for many occasions.

However a number of months ago  I was working out on an elliptical machine,  And I experienced more shortness of breath than usual for a workout.  I used the ECG function to take an ECG at that time.

I observed ST segment depression on the tracing. That resolved and returned to normal with rest. This was again documented by the tracings.

I had no history of any heart disease prior to this incident.

An appointment with my primary care physician obtained a resting ECG in her office that was normal. However upon showing the tracing with the ischemia she agreed and referred me to a cardiologist at John Muir Concord hospital .

He agreed as well with the assessment and upon having an angiogram yesterday the finding of critical diffuse coronary artery disease was found and I am now scheduled for a 5 vessel bypass and aortic valve replacement on July 13 2020.”

Stories like these are truly incredible, because, as Milne goes on to say, “The Apple Watch has saved [his] life.” The fact that the Apple Watch detected the heart disease early allowed him to get it treated as soon as possible, as waiting much longer would have made it too late. It’s extremely impressive that this device is able to accurately detect things that even the equipment of medical professionals can end up missing,