#GoodNews: Student Invents Device to Predict Silent Heart Attacks

In a silent heart attack, the person does not show common symptoms, looking healthy even if they are not.

Akash Manoj. (Photo: PTI)

A Class 10 student from Tamil Nadu has developed a new technique that can non-invasively detect the risk of a ‘silent heart attack’, something that might save many lives in rural areas.

Akash Manoj is staying in Rashtrapati Bhavan as a guest of President Pranab Mukherjee under the Innovation Scholars In-Residence Programme.

“Silent heart attacks are extremely deadly and alarmingly common these days. In these cases, almost no symptoms are evident and thus people look so healthy to us,” Manoj said during the Festival of Innovation organised in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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Akash Manoj with the prototype of his non-invasive self diagnosis of ‘silent heart attack’ during the Innovation Exhibition at the Rahtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. (PTI)

“My grandfather also looked healthy but one day he collapsed following a sudden heart attack,” he said.

Chest pain, pain in the left arm or shortness of breath are some of the symptoms of a heart attack. However, in a ‘silent heart attack’, the person might not show any of these symptoms. High cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes can be possible reasons to put a person at a higher risk of having a ‘silent heart attack.’

Manoj’s technique involves frequently analysing the presence of FABP3 – a blood biomarker of heart attack – without puncturing the skin. His skin patch, that can be attached to the ear or the wrist, will release a ‘positive’ electrical impulse, which will attract the negatively charged protein released by the heart to signal a heart attack. If the FABP3 quantity is high, the person should get medical help.

(With inputs from PTI.)