Dr. Donald Rosenberg says you need to listen carefully to hear more subtle third and fourth heart sounds, because those are only present in adults when there's a problem, "The significance of these sounds means that the ventricles have gotten stiff or have heart failure. The muscle is not pumping efficiently."

Collier County on the west coast of Florida is the first in the country to equip rescue units with Audiocor. EMS training chief Jorge Aguilera says used together with an electrocardiogram, it charts your heart's electrical signals plus hard to hear heart sounds, "And those two little microphones that we put on allow the paramedics or the computer to listen for abnormal heart sounds."

Sensors many times more sensitive than the human ear, hooked up to a computer that interprets the sounds. A printout alerts paramedics if abnormal heart sounds are present.

Dr. Rosenberg, a professor at the University of Miami, is also the medical director for Miami Dade Fire Rescue. He's working on equipping trucks with Audiocor, "It will definitely improve our diagnosis of congestive heart failure and definitely improve our diagnosis of more serious heart attacks than we think that should be treated earlier."

In Darlene Wilkin's case, no abnormal electrical signals or heart sounds were picked up, so an unnecessary trip to the hospital was avoided, "My blood pressure's high and I've got a lot of stress going on, but the equipment they have in there is excellent."

Aguilera says the new technology is a great help to first responders, "The way it's going to help us is by giving additional information that historically we've never had in the back of a rescue vehicle."

Doctors believe the new technology can especially benefit women, because they often have unusual symptoms that can make it more difficult to diagnose a heart condition.

All content © Copyright 2000 - 2005 WorldNow and WISTV.