Jürgen Metz (52) was on the verge of a heart attack. The new super ECG has unmasked the disease and thus prevented the worst. © Achim Schmidt
As simple and painless as an ECG: The young technology of cardisiography uncovers hidden diseases of the heart and saves many patients from going to the cardiac catheterization laboratory.
He hadn't felt comfortable for a long time. Often tired in the morning, Jürgen Metz (52) dragged himself through the stressful everyday life in the field. Maybe that's why, back in the fall of 2021, while reading the newspaper, he got stuck on the article on the subject of cardiac care. It was about cardisiography – a new technology for the early detection of heart attacks. That probably saved his life.
Cardisiography detects hardening of the arteries
Cardiologist Dr. Milan Dinic shows the new super ECG. © Achim Schmidt
Cardisiography is a heart screening test that detects certain diseases such as arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) at an early stage. The cardiologist and internist Dr. Milan Dinic has been working with the young technology in his practice in downtown Munich (www.dr-dinic.de) for two years, which now delivers increasingly precise results: "The procedure works like an ECG, in which the electrical signals of the heart are recorded for four minutes," says Dr. Dinic.
Artificial intelligence calculates risk of heart attack
Jürgen Metz's heart was also measured three-dimensionally and tested using artificial intelligence (AI) methods. At the end of the approximately ten-minute evaluation, the Cardisio index is created. "This gives me a precise overview of the patient's risk of infarction," says Dr. Dinic. Within a few minutes and with an accuracy of 90 percent, he now knows what the heart health of his patients is like: "The evaluation using artificial intelligence is constantly being improved. The non-invasive screening test can now also be used to detect whether congenital or acquired heart disease or cardiac arrhythmias are present," explains Dr. Dinic.
"In this situation, you can no longer think clearly"
All this data did not look good in the case of his patient Jürgen Metz. And so the 52-year-old soon became a case for the specialists at the German Heart Center in Munich, with whom Dr. Dinic cooperates. "In such a situation, you can't think clearly anymore. But the doctors, nurses and caregivers at the Heart Center were so nice and competent that I quickly gained confidence," says Jürgen Metz.
Jürgen Metz was already a high-risk patient
The cardiac CT confirmed that he was definitely a high-risk patient: "All three heart arteries were 50 to 70 percent calcified. That shocked me. What would have happened if I had ignored the warning signs? I could have been one of those unfortunate people who suddenly drop dead at the age of 51."
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Minimally invasive surgery at the German Heart Center
At the end of November, Jürgen Metz underwent surgery at the Heart Center. During the 90-minute, minimally invasive procedure – the specialists advanced three stents (vascular supports) via an access on the right wrist via the artery to the constrictions – he was wide awake: "Highly interesting! But I didn't want to look at the monitors."
Just two days later, he was back home
Just two days later, his wife and daughter were allowed to take him home again. He has to take medication for various blood values and blood pressure for the rest of his life – "my guarantors for a normal life".
The good news also reached the Cardisio developers in Frankfurt. Meik Baumeister, CEO and co-founder of Cardisio, has already survived a heart attack himself and knows what Jürgen Metz has been through: "I am very pleased that cardisiography was able to save another life." Jürgen Metz is doing very well again today: "I have thought a lot about what is important in life and have also changed some things. And I've become more relaxed."
New system even detects narrowing of the coronary arteries
Today, Dr. Dinic uses another innovative method to detect possible narrowing of the coronary arteries: the Acarix CADScor® system with ultrasensitive phonocardiography. This means that a narrowing of the coronary arteries (CHD) requiring treatment can be detected even without an examination in the cardiac catheter – "without risk, without pain, without radiation and without contrast agent," says Dr. Dinic. The device, the size of a smartphone, is placed on the chest like a stethoscope and, thanks to state-of-the-art algorithms, delivers a certain value in the shortest possible time. This is used to determine the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), which can lead to a heart attack. This value is determined by flow noises caused by the blood flow in the heart vessels. Larger deposits cause a relevant vasoconstriction with audible turbulence of the blood in the vessel and can thus be detected acoustically.
