Pregnant women have been using their Apple Watches to catch conditions like myocarditis and placental abruption. For pediatric cardiologist Rachel Manalo, her Apple Watch helped save her and her baby’s life.
Lindsey Theis for ABC 10 News San Diego:
“I click the EKG function on my watch. And then you place your finger on the crown and lay your arm still on the table. And it takes a recording for 30 seconds,” she showed Scripps News.
Her EKG at that time showed “inconclusive,” which should prompt a patient to ask their doctor, she says.
Instead of the normal 60-100 beats a minute, her heart rate was at 150 for more than 40 minutes. Manalo had something called ventricular tachycardia. The lower part of her heart wasn’t working as well, and not enough oxygen was getting into the blood. Plus, her heart was already working overtime, pumping twice the blood volume for her and her baby.
She rushed to UCLA in Los Angeles, where she saw maternal and fetal medicine specialist Dr. Tina Nguyen.
“That type of heart issue, if not taken care of, can lead to a heart attack. And then you add on that she was pregnant,” Dr. Nguyen explains. “We talked about everything. I said ‘so when did you start noticing this irregular heart rate, you know, when did you have symptoms’ And she said, ‘you know, my Apple Watch told me.’”
For Manalo’s case, she’d end up having an emergency C section at 34 weeks… Her daughter Samantha was born four pounds, five ounces, mom says. Manalo would be on medication after her pregnancy to control her heart problem.
She then went on to have a minor surgery to treat the problem. Samantha is now two and mom says her daughter is joyful and strong willed.
MacDailyNews Take: A single Apple Watch saves two lives!
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