Redazione RHC : 1 September 2025 10:14
British doctors have tested an advanced stethoscope equipped with artificial intelligence capable of detecting three serious heart conditions in just 15 seconds. Practical results of the study showed that the new device significantly improves diagnostic accuracy compared to traditional methods, as reported by the Guardian.
The stethoscope has been one of the main medical instruments for over two hundred years. In its classic form, it allows the detection of abnormal heart, lung, or bowel sounds. Now, a British team of researchers from Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has unveiled an updated version of the device, equipped with artificial intelligence.
Instead of the traditional stethoscope tip, it has a device the size of a playing card with a sensitive built-in microphone. It records subtle fluctuations in heart sounds and blood flow, inaccessible to human hearing. At the same time, the device performs a rapid ECG and sends the data to the cloud, where algorithms analyze it almost instantly, the BBC noted.
The AI was trained on tens of thousands of medical records, which allowed it to improve its accuracy in recognizing serious pathologies. The study involved more than 12,000 patients in 96 clinics using a “smart” stethoscope manufactured by the American company Eko Health. For comparison, data from 109 medical practices using conventional methods were used.
The results were convincing: the likelihood of detecting heart failure increased 2.33-fold, arrhythmias 3.5-fold, and valvular heart disease 1.9-fold. In each of these cases, early diagnosis is crucial for successful treatment.
The study was presented at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology in Madrid. According to Sonia Babu-Narayan, clinical director of the British Heart Foundation, “this is an elegant example of how the humble stethoscope, invented more than two centuries ago, can be reinvented for the 21st century,” the BBC reported.
The cardiologist stressed that such technologies are particularly important because diagnosis is often made too late, even during emergency hospital admission. Early diagnosis gives patients the opportunity to start treatment early and extend their active lives.
Researchers plan to extend the use of the device across the UK; The next phase will be the introduction of the stethoscope in 205 GP practices in west and northwest London.
Interestingly, similar technologies are being developed for veterinary medicine. In 2024, scientists at the University of Cambridge created a machine-learning algorithm capable of detecting heart murmurs in dogs with 90% accuracy.
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