LSU Athletics Becomes First College Sports Program to Use AI-Enabled Digital Stethoscopes From Eko Health to Care for Student-Athletes

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Aug 08, 2024, 09:00 ET

Eko Health outfits LSU Athletic Sports Medicine team with CORE 500 digital stethoscopes and AI algorithms for the enhanced detection of cardiac conditions during athlete physical exams

BATON ROUGE, La. & SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Eko Health, a pioneer in applying artificial intelligence (AI) for early detection of heart and lung diseases, LSU Athletics, and Our Lady of the Lake Health are teaming up to elevate and enhance LSU's elite student-athlete heart health and preventive care programs.

Eko Health will outfit LSU's world-class Sports Medicine team with Eko's FDA-cleared CORE 500 digital stethoscopes and accompanying software platform, including FDA-cleared AI algorithms for detecting atrial fibrillation and heart murmurs, which are often indicative of structural heart disease.

The donation makes LSU Athletics the first college sports program to implement Eko Health's cutting-edge medical devices and AI algorithms to care for student-athletes. Healthcare providers from Our Lady of the Lake Health, LSU Athletics' Championship Health Partner, will use the digital stethoscopes enhanced with AI during physical exams to address student-athlete concerns and as a key preventive heart-health tool.

"Our commitment to providing clinically excellent care for our student-athletes means we're only using the latest, most-sophisticated technology to help them to perform to the best of their ability," said Micki Collins, LSU Athletics Associate Athletic Director and Director of Sports Medicine. "Identifying potential heart issues early is essential to ensuring they can safely compete and is emblematic of our dedication to our Core Values. We're incredibly thankful to the Eko Health team for their generous donation and look forward to deploying their technology across our Sports Medicine team."

Eko Health Commercial Vice President Joseph Authement is a former LSU student-athlete on the swimming team who understands firsthand the power of preventive medicine.

"Medical innovation has evolved tremendously since I was at LSU, notably with AI changing the game in preventive medicine. While it wasn't heart-related, my LSU swimming career was cut short due to preexisting health issues, which may have been identified earlier with today's available technology," said Authement. "As an avid LSU fan and Louisiana native, I'm honored to represent a technology that can help save the lives of student athletes in the future."

Eko Health devices are used by more than 500,000 U.S. clinicians and each of its AI algorithms have been demonstrated in multiple published clinical studies to identify heart-health concerns with high levels of sensitivity and specificity.

"Early detection of arrhythmias and murmurs is incredibly important for everyone – but especially LSU student-athletes who are constantly pushing their bodies to perform at a high level," said Kelechi Akamiro, MD, CAQSM, sports medicine physician at Our Lady of the Lake Health. "As the sports medicine providers for LSU Athletics, we are highly trained to use traditional stethoscopes to identify signs of these conditions during routine exams. However, these new digital technologies have the propensity to assist us in detecting irregularities or problems with even greater precision."

Eko Health devices will be integrated into LSU Sports Medicine staff exams starting this Summer ahead of the 2024-2025 academic year. For more information on any of Eko's devices or software, please visit www.ekohealth.com.

About Eko Health
Eko Health is a leading digital health company advancing how healthcare professionals detect and monitor heart and lung disease with its portfolio of digital stethoscopes, patient and provider software, and AI-powered analysis. Its FDA-cleared platform, used by over 500,000 healthcare professionals worldwide, allows them to detect earlier and with higher accuracy, diagnose with more confidence, manage treatment effectively, and ultimately give their patients the best care possible. Eko Health is headquartered in Emeryville, California, with over $165 million in funding from ARTIS Ventures, DigiTx Partners, Double Point Ventures, EDBI, Highland Capital Partners, LG Technology Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Morningside Technology Ventures Limited, NTTVC, Questa Capital, and others.

About Our Lady of the Lake Health
Our Lady of the Lake Health is a not-for-profit Catholic healthcare ministry based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that has been committed to serving the Capital Region and building a healthy community through excellence in patient care and education for 100 years. With more than 7,500 employees, a 900-bed Regional Medical Center, a dedicated 99-bed Children's Hospital, a 78-bed hospital in Gonzales, Louisiana, two freestanding emergency rooms in outlying parishes, and a 650+ provider Physician Group, Our Lady of the Lake Health provides comprehensive healthcare services for common to complex conditions. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center is a primary teaching site for graduate medical education programs in partnership with LSU and is recognized in the areas of heart and vascular, trauma and emergency care, stroke, cancer care, minimally invasive procedures, and more. Our Lady of the Lake is part of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System and is driven by its mission to serve all God's people, especially those most in need. For more information, visit ololrmc.com.

Media Contact:
Sam Moore
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SOURCE Eko Health