Smartwatch ECG captures 165 bpm tachycardia; Emory diagnoses VT

AI system

System: Smartwatch ECG function with high-heart-rate warning (brand and model not stated)
Model: Not assessed
Release: Not assessed
Application developer: Not stated (the report does not name the device's maker)
Role: Not assessed
Configuration: Not assessed
Inputs and outputs: Not assessed
Autonomy: Not assessed
Workflow: A wearer who activates the watch's ECG recording during a transient symptomatic episode. A clinician who reviews the single-lead trace rather than dismissing consumer data. Access to telemetry, cardiac MRI, electrophysiology study, ICD implantation and ablation.
Human oversight: Not assessed
Relation to AI: The device's contribution was recording a user-triggered single-lead ECG and issuing a generic high-heart-rate warning. It did not classify the rhythm as VT, which the authors say no wearable algorithm is validated to do. Clinicians read the QRS morphology on the smartwatch trace and on the 12-lead ECG, and made every treatment decision. The brand is unknown.
AI contribution: The device's contribution was recording a user-triggered single-lead ECG and issuing a generic high-heart-rate warning. It did not classify the rhythm as VT, which the authors say no wearable algorithm is validated to do. Clinicians read the QRS morphology on the smartwatch trace and on the 12-lead ECG, and made every treatment decision. The brand is unknown.

Studies: Not assessed
Study design: Not assessed
Measurement: Not assessed
Setting and sample: Not assessed
Measures: recorded a 165 bpm wide-complex tachycardia during palpitations
Comparison: Assumed alternative: the clinician's evaluation of palpitations without considering the smartwatch recording
Results: Assumed comparison. Reference: VT would have gone undiagnosed. Result: a wide complex tachycardia with a rate of 165 beats/min on his smartwatch.
Additional value from AI: Not assessed
Limitations: Not assessed
Denominators: Not assessed
Materials for replication: Not assessed

Participants: Developer: Not stated (the report does not name the device's maker).
Jurisdictions: Benefit: Atlanta, United States (authors' institution; the admitting hospital is not named).
Ownership and control: Not assessed
Dependencies: Not assessed
Cross-border connections: Not assessed
Geopolitical implications: Not assessed

Conditions for replication: The arrhythmia occurs while the wearer is able to trigger a recording (the watch has no continuous ECG). The QRS morphology on a single lead is clear enough for a clinician to suspect VT and pursue confirmation.
Replication attempts: 1 follow-up entries. Benefit recurred: 1.
Later findings: The ICD shock and ablation are undated events within the same report; nothing after publication was found.
Availability: Not assessed
Institutional decision: Not assessed
Grounds: Not assessed
Action and result: Not assessed
Success criterion: Not assessed

Assessed benefits: People.
Depth: People: 3.
Reasons: People: The captured trace led to a VT diagnosis, an ICD that later delivered shocks for VT degenerating into ventricular fibrillation, and a curative ablation. The report presents the ICD decision as vindicated by those shocks. So the benefit reaches a life-threatening arrhythmia, though the counterfactual is the authors' judgment.
Observed or intended: Not assessed
Rubric: Not assessed
Assessor and date: Not assessed
Alternative assessments: Not assessed
Fill: Independently studied

Kind: Not assessed
Related entries: Not assessed
Field: Healthcare (cardiology; electrophysiology). Consumer wearables.
Purpose: Smartwatch ECG apps are built to record a single-lead trace and warn of high heart rates. Capturing the VT during symptoms was that function. The authors note no smartwatch algorithm is validated to detect VT and the diagnosis came from clinicians reading the trace.
Dates: Date basis unassessed: 2025 (precision unassessed). Updated: 21 October 2026.
Stage: Not assessed
Version: SHA-256: e2acc392d107…

Case report Independent author

Guynn N, Regis K, Eckert A, D'souza M, Turbow S, Westerman S, Sperling L, Lloyd M (2025). Sustained Monomorphic Ventricular Tachycardia Accurately Detected by Wearable Technology. JACC: Case Reports 30(9):103273. doi:10.1016/j.jaccas.2025.103273 (PMC12245455).