Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0665
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2161-0665
+44 1478 350008
Layla Taryam, Sumaya Al Zarooni, Asif Afridi, Naziha Mechlaoui, Soosan Afifi , A Aboobaker Kunju, Amrish Kumar, Mohamed Ali, Moza Khalaf, Yogesh Karpate, Sukryool Kang, Robin W Doroshow and Raj Shekhar
Ministry of Health and Prevention, UAE
Children's National Health System, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Pediatr Ther
Innocent heart murmurs occur in approximately 50% of healthy children at some point in their childhood and Still�¢����s murmur is the most prevalent of these innocent pediatric heart murmurs. General physicians (GPs) are not very successful in distinguishing innocent Still�¢����s murmur from pathological heart murmurs and consequently, a large number of children are unnecessarily referred to pediatric cardiologists. Besides cost and inconvenience, these unnecessary referrals are a source of anxiety and stress in children and families while waiting to see a pediatric cardiologist. Our objective has to develop a novel technology that could identify Still�¢����s murmur with high accuracy at the point of care to aid GPs in their decisions regarding referral to a specialist. We have created a novel stethoscope that connects to a smartphone and developed a custom application that records heart sounds and analyzes them for the presence of Still�¢����s murmur. Th is solution is called StethAid. Th e stethoscope records heart sounds with a quality comparable to that of a commercial electronic stethoscope. Th e analysis algorithm has been developed and tested using an in-house murmur library with clinically documented diagnoses. Using StethAid we recorded heart sounds of 78 pediatric patients at the two UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention Hospitals. Four of these patients had Still�¢����s murmur, while the rest had a pathological murmur. Th e app identifi ed these murmurs with over 90% accuracy. Th e proposed technology could potentially lower the current high rate of specialist referrals associated with Still�¢����s murmur and reduce the related fi nancial and emotional costs.
Layla Taryam has completed her graduate degree from the UAE University Medical School. She has trained in Pediatrics at Koln University Hospital in Germany where she continued to specialize in neonatology. She has been practicing in Al Qassimi Hospital and specialized in the care of critically ill neonates. Her interests include early diagnosis of congenital heart diseases in the newborns and pediatric patients. Currently she is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Sharjah University Medical School and a Coordinator of the Internship Program in MOHAP. She is also a member of multiple medical committees in MOHAP.