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Pocket hope for beating heart attacks
 Heart beat readings can be sent to medics using an ordinary phone line. READ MORE STORIES
LIFE-CHANGING TECH
(CNN) -- A miniature heart monitor that allows doctors to detect imminent cardiac arrest over the phone is being launched in the United States, offering a rapid-reaction service its manufacturers say will save thousands of lives. By providing expert medical opinion at the touch of a button, EKGuard EKGuard chief Jay Lichtenstein says the device is aimed at victims of earlier heart attacks, people with a family history of heart disease , or people concerned over recent chest pain. He says the monitor will help eliminate uncertainty if people are worried about whether to get medical attention. "All of this is based on a fundamental need in the marketplace, because people are waiting too long to seek help," he told CNN. "We want to take that four-to-six hours and bring it down to a couple of minutes. If we can treat them in that first hour, or first couple of hours, the chances of surviving are quite high." EKGuard uses three electrodes attached to the body to record two minutes of heartbeats, which are then played back down any ordinary phone line to a 24-hour call center as a series of computer bleeps. Software at the other end transforms it into a standard hospital-style cardiograph reading to be compared with the patient's medical history, which EKGuard will already have on file. "Based on a patient's history and the electrocardiograph reading we receive, we can decide whether they need to go to hospital," he said. EKGuard's service costs $499 for the device plus monthly fees starting at $69 -- a price the company insists is worth paying. "It is a simple and easy way to find out if there's a problem, and for patients, it's an incredible peace of mind," Lichtenstein says. The service is currently only available in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but the company says it intends to roll out a nationwide U.S. service and possibly expand overseas. Over the next two years it will also work on Bluetooth capabilities for the device, so it can interact directly with a cell phone or PDA. Although EKGuard has yet to face its first full emergency, Lichtenstein says a similar system already up and running in Israel and serving up to 60,000 patients has already saved thousands of lives. Several other countries also offer the service, which was approved for use in the U.S. in 2000, but held up by legal and practical wrangles over the development of the call centers. 
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aims to drastically cut the time between a heart attack and a patient's arrival at a hospital -- crucial hours that could mean the difference between life and death.
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