ECG Apple Watch

ECG Apple Watch

Dad claims Apple watch ‘saved his life’ after it detected heart condition

I wonder, if I'd had the newest Apple watch back in 2017, would it have caught my own heart condition? I knew something was up but my doctor thought it was neurological; it took me collapsing at work and my heart pausing for 15 seconds, then 30 seconds, and then my heart rate dropping to 19 for us to find out I have a total heart block.

As a technology journalist, Paul Hutton, 48, decided to buy the watch to try out the new gadget. But when it kept warning him of a resting heart rate below 40 beats a minute, he took himself to the doctor. A healthy adult should have a resting heart rate of around 60-100 beats a minute. Doctors diagnosed him with ventricular bigeminy – meaning that every other heart beat was significantly weaker and was not being picked up by the heart monitor.

Mr Hutton underwent cardiac ablation surgery at Basildon University Hospital last month. 

During the procedure, electrodes were fed into his heart via an artery in his groin.

These recorded his heart's electrical activity to uncover the area that was causing his arrhythmia.

Energy then traveled through the electrode tips to scar the tissue that was responsible.   

Mr Hutton was conscious, but sedated, throughout the operation.  

'My surgeon was absolutely brilliant,' he said. 

'Once it was done, I had a very welcome cup of tea and was discharged the next day.'

A month later, Mr Hutton appears to be doing well. 

'I keep checking my pulse on my Apple Watch and it all seems good,' he said.