Evaluation of Contactless Optical Stethoscope for Cardiac Auscultation

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Evaluation of a Contactless Optical Stethoscope for Cardiac Auscultation–A Pilot Study

• IRAS ID

  324985

• Contact name

  Sandosh Padmanabhan

• Contact email

  Sandosh.Padmanabhan@Glasgow.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 1 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  Cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke & heart attacks are the leading cause of death globally, making early diagnosis important. Assessment of heart sounds (made by blood flowing through the heart valves) is an important part of a medical examination, traditionally done by a doctor using a stethoscope. If further assessment is needed, the patient is referred to the hospital for a scan of their heart, or echocardiogram (ECHO). The current waiting lists for this are are long causing additional stress for the patient.
  We hope to answer whether a contactless stethoscope device is the same as, or better than a doctor using a traditional stethoscope with regards to indicating possible valve disease that requires follow up for formal diagnosis, thus reducing/expediting the need for further specialist input and imaging. We will recruit patients who attend blood pressure or cardiology outpatient clinics at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH), or those identified during a recent (within last 3 months) inpatient stay at QEUH. They will be invited by letter to attend a 2 hours session to test the optical stethoscope’s ability to flag potential valve disease verses a cardiology doctor using a traditional stethoscope. The patient invited will have had a recent (within 24 months) echocardiogram reporting the presence or absence of valve disease. We are looking to recruit 5 controls with no valve disease reported, and 20 patients with (singular or mixed). On the day of the study, the participant will be examined by the study doctor using a traditional stethoscope, before having the contactless laser stethoscope directed at the 4 valve areas on the front of the chest and recordings taken. The data collected is analysed by the research team to compare the optical stethoscope against a traditional stethoscope at raising the possibility of valve disease. This is an 8 week study.

• REC name

  North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2

• REC reference

  23/NS/0112

• Date of REC Opinion

  30 Oct 2023

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion