To diagnose a disease based on a mechanical dysfunction, you need to measure a mechanical parameter, the founders of Cardiosense believe. Cardiosense is out to provide a noninvasive device for measuring rising intracardiac filling pressures, the hallmark of decompensated heart failure, so patients can be treated early enough to keep them out of the hospital.
The management of heart failure still represents one of the greatest unmet needs in medicine. The lifetime risk of heart failure has grown to 24%; almost seven million people in the US have been diagnosed with this structurally degenerative condition of the heart, and many others with early, asymptomatic disease don’t know they have it. From patient to patient, the etiology, symptoms, and progression of the disease vary, but it is as universally true here as it is for other mortal diseases: early intervention can prolong life.