Roman Belkin: Cardiomo – symbiosis of medical and fitness device

As part of InnoTech 2017, one of the conference speakers was Roman Belkin, CTO at Cardiomo. He spoke about pocket electronics, which can serve as both mere decoration and life saver. We talked to the expert about his own project – Cardiomo, a compact gadget for monitoring health.

Journalist – Yanina Volovik (Smile-Expo)

Speaker – Roman Belkin

Y.V.: Please tell us about Cardiomo.

R.B.: Cardiomo is a miniature wearable device, which is attached below the breast and registers vital biometric parameters: high-resolution electrocardiogram, breathing, and body temperature. Also, the device features embedded accelerometer and gyroscope intended to detect human falls and record the body position. This information is sent to a smartphone, where it is pre-processed and analyzed, and then sent to the cloud for storage and deep analysis using artificial intelligence. A high accuracy of diagnostics is achieved, outperforming even the quality of diagnostics performed by physicians, as artificial intelligence is a kind of board of doctors.

Y.V.: How was the device tested?

R.B.: Currently, we are testing it on ourselves and friends. The last important test was conducted to define the accuracy of our algorithms compared with medical devices. For this purpose, I used Cardiomo together with Holter during one day. Holter is an ECG monitor that performs daily monitoring and is recommended for people who have heart problems. For example, in ordinary electrocardiography, a person has to lie down a couch and lots of electrodes are attached to him – it doesn’t provide the full picture of his health, as he is in a relaxed state. Also, exercise ECG tests are performed, but after them, physicians often advise using Holter as during some stressful situations, which people experience in normal life, the device records the heart work and gives a possibility to make a comprehensible analysis, explaining in which situations a person feels worse. It allows detecting abnormalities, which could be left unseen using an ECG recorder.

Y.V.: Do you collaborate with medical institutions or have health professionals on your team?

R.B.: We do not have full-time medical workers because a good doctor is a practicing doctor. To offer him work on a permanent basis means to deteriorate his professional competence. Therefore we turn to medical advisers that work in the largest cardiological clinics and centers. We send them data obtained with the help of Cardiomo, and they analyze it, give their recommendations. Moreover, our engineers consult with them, asking how to describe a specific experience, whether they described it correctly, whether the algorithm coped with it correctly, etc. And what is more, our medical advisers are waiting for Cardiomo, and even asked to create one more device they want to use in their practice – Cardiomo Pro – an analogue to Holter, which will undergo a fully-fledged medical certification.

Y.V.: Are you planning to create a specialized Cardiomo for children, for example?

R.B.: I have no intention to release Cardiomo Pro and rest on oars. Its basic functions can be implemented in various industries. We get many questions from pregnant women whether it’s possible to listen to baby’s heart while he’s still in the womb. We consulted with cardiologists and they confirmed that it was possible. Therefore, that’s another area of focus.

And the current device allows making a cardiogram for children as well.

Y.V.: Are there any analogues of Cardiomo in the international market?

R.B.: Yes, there are. But we have occupied a niche, which analogues are passing by for some reasons. They primarily exist either in a strictly medical sphere or in consumer markets in the form of fitness trackers, smart watches and other devices for people with active lifestyle and sportsmen.

In our situation, Cardiomo is a symbiosis of medical and fitness device for people who take care of their health and relatives that have some cardiological problems and want to prevent the arrival of symptoms of such ‘silent killers’ as infarct or stroke.

Y.V.: How durable is the device?

R.B.: In fact, you can buy it once and use for the rest of your life. Although according to our internal documentation, its lifetime is 1 year, that’s just a business model. It can be used for a much longer period of time. It’s another matter that new versions with new design and updates will emerge, so there is a probability that in time a user will want to buy a newer version of the device.