Heart attacks are scary – you can never know when one might hit you squarely in the chest. The AngelMed Guardian intends to circumvent this potentially fatal situation by warning you beforehand thanks to a self-monitoring alert mode. The downside to it? You will need to be carved open first, as this is an implantable medical device. To make sure the AngelMed Guardian gets the message across, it will alert you through a combination of vibrations, audible tones and visual warnings, and in theory, it should be far more effective than implantable heart defibrillators.
According to researcher Mary Carol Day, “A vibrotactile alarm provided by the implanted device has two major advantages. First, the implanted device cannot be left behind like a portable device. “Second, its alarm is more likely to be felt than an auditory alarm is to be heard even by the patient wearing heavy clothing, or is in a noisy environment.”
There are two levels of alarm urgency, one where a high-priority alarm will indicate that you might potentially suffer from a heart attack and should dial 911 immediately, while the other is a low-priority alarm which warns the patient to visit a doctor within the next 48 hours. Similar in size to a pacemaker, the AngelMed Guardian will be located in the upper left chest along with an external device that looks like a pager, where the latter’s job is to alert you via an auditory alarm and a flashing red or yellow warning light.
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