Magical Medicine

“It’s basically like looking into a crystal ball, seeing what is going to happen to a patient before it happens to them.” – AJ Cook MD

Those were my words, that landed in the title for the 2016 CTV News feature A crystal ball with a pulse? Uniform heart rate linked to oncoming illness.

Acting on a hunch, my good friend and colleague Dr. David Leipert approached Biotricity, a medical technology firm to develop a monitor that samples a heart rate 1000 times a second. The idea of using heart rate variability (HRV) data as a predictor of illness came to Leipert following the flood of 2013. After assisting with flood relief efforts he contracted a nasty cardiac virus which damaged his heart. Prior to the diagnosis he had always detected a change in his heart rate. “It goes up when I breathe in and it goes down when I breathe out, and that’s normal.” he explains. A racing heart rate or a relatively slow heart rate do not necessarily indicate impending issues, it’s the lack of fluctuation that brings cause for concern. The kind he experienced as a result of the virus.

“When you’re healthy, your heart rate is always going up and down all the time in response to your life, in response to your body, in response to what you are doing at the time. The sicker you get the less your heart rate varies because it becomes rigid, it becomes fixed, it becomes focused on dealing with the sickness.” – Dr. David Leipert

Today Biotricity, now a medical diagnostic and consumer health care technology company with multi-product offering, is reshaping the future of physician and patient consultation . CEO of Biotricity, Waqaas Al-Siddiq reports, “We achieved significant growth during a period of restricted travel due to Covid, so we are even more optimistic about our growth potential as the business environment unlocks. Our sequential quarterly growth really illustrates the importance of our technology and model, where we are enabling a cardiologist while improving patient care.”

It has been incredible to be involved with this project since inception and to witness its growth. Biotricity is a game changer and we could not be more proud to have contributed to its ongoing success.

Watch full 2016 CTV feature A crystal ball with a pulse? Uniform heart rate linked to oncoming illness here.

Learn more about Biotricity here.