A novel bimodal stethoscope for gastric collection of heart sounds: preliminary results.

Heart sound analysis is commonly used by physicians during auscultations to evaluate cardiac activity as a first line. These sounds originate from heartbeats and the resulting blood flow, and can provide important information about heart function and hemodynamics. The monitoring of heart sounds in patients suffering from chronic cardiac pathologies can be useful to detect or prevent cardiac events. For this purpose, a bimodal implanted gastric stethoscope was developed allowing home monitoring of electrophysiological and mechanical parameters.An in-vivo experiment in pigs was carried out to validate the feasibility of heart sound detection from an accelerometer embedded in a stethoscope prototype implanted in the submucosal layer of the gastric wall. Data recorded over several weeks validate the tolerance and the sensitivity of the device. These promising preliminary results confirm the interest of considering the stomach as a strategic implantation site for heart sound monitoring.