An ultrasound on an iPhone saves a mom from a deadly heart condition

You never know what can turn into your savior in a life-threatening situation. For Sara Adair, a mother of two, it was a device she used every day: an iPhone.

Sara Adair has always been aware of the symptoms of aortic dissections, a serious life-threatening cardiac condition where the inner lining of the body's main artery tears and causes the aorta to come apart.

She was aware of this deadly condition, as both her father and sister survived it. She, her father, and her sister were diagnosed with Loeys-Dietz syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects the body's connective tissues. Considering this medical history, Sara Adair visits her cardiologist and takes routine scans; however, there were no warning signs.

On July 22, 2024, Adair spent the evening with her kids at sports tournaments and a pool party. Everything seemed fine until it wasn’t. As she sat down to unwind that evening, she felt a crushing chest pain that spread to her neck. Adair was quick to recognize the symptoms.

She rushed to her husband to ask him to call 911 but collapsed on the floor next to him. When the first responders arrived, she struggled to communicate with them. When her husband insisted on taking her to the hospital where she worked, they did. When the paramedic conducted a diagnostic test, it indicated that she had a major heart attack. Though both heart attacks and aortic dissections have similar symptoms, the treatments are different, and aortic dissection needs to be treated immediately.

Thankfully, a cardiologist was able to make the correct diagnosis in the emergency room. He used a point-of-care ultrasound to examine Adair. The device is a probe that plugs into an iPhone, turning the device into a portable ultrasound system. The portable scan revealed a large tear in her aorta, and therefore the doctors were able to take the right action immediately. A CT scan later confirmed this diagnosis, and soon enough, they rushed her into emergency open-heart surgery.

"I know it was the ultrasound that I had in the emergency room that saved me. If I had been treated for a heart attack and brought, say, to the cardiac cath lab, or if I didn't go to the CT scan and get the diagnostic tests that I needed, I could have bled out,” Adair told CBS.

The ultrasound saved her life, thanks to the iPhone! The operation had complications, including her suffering a stroke during the surgery. After months, she eventually recovered, but the right diagnosis before running out of time saved her life.