The Lancet Publishes TRICORDER Study: AI-Enabled Stethoscopes Boost Cardiac Detection in NHS Trial

A large-scale NHS trial (TRICORDER study) led by Imperial College London across 200+ practices showed AI-enabled stethoscopes nearly doubled heart failure detections and tripled irregular heart rhythm detections when used.12

Published in The Lancet on January 29, 2026, the study involved nearly 13,000 AI-assisted exams but noted low consistent usage due to workflow barriers, limiting overall impact.12

Subgroup analysis:
Patients examined with AI stethoscope had 1.92x higher valve disease and 3.45x higher atrial fibrillation diagnosis rates.23

Eko Health's AI stethoscope detects conditions in 15 seconds via ECG and sound analysis sent to cloud AI.3

Separate FDA clearances for eMurmur AI software enable murmur detection across digital stethoscopes.6810

Sources:

1. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-lancet-publishes-tricorder-study-real-world-evaluation-shows-increased-detection-when-eko-ai-enabled-stethoscopes-are-used-in-primary-care-302673952.html

2. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/articles/medicine/nhli/2026/ai-enabled-stethoscopes-show-promise-for-improving-diagnosis-of-cardiovascular-conditions-uk-trial-finds/

3. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-humble-stethoscope-ai-heart-conditions.html

6. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/emurmurs-open-medical-ai-receives-fda-clearance-enabling-murmur-detection-across-digital-stethoscope-models-and-third-party-software-302672833.html

8. https://cardiovascularbusiness.com/topics/artificial-intelligence/fda-clears-ai-software-heart-murmur-detection-digital-stethoscopes

10. https://www.massdevice.com/fda-clears-emurmur-next-gen-ai-heart-murmur-detection-software/