Heart Ultrasound Test: This technology will detect heart failure in advance, know how it is revolutionizing the medical field?
Heart Ultrasound Test: Doctors use a special test called cardiopulmonary exercise testing to diagnose advanced heart failure. Let's explain this new technique.
Can AI help detect heart failure early?
Can AI Detect Heart Failure Early? Heart failure is a serious disease that affects millions of people worldwide. It occurs when the heart is unable to pump blood properly through the body. In the advanced stage of the disease, it can even become fatal, but the biggest challenge is that it is not easy to detect it in time. The biggest problem faced by doctors is that in many patients, advanced heart failure is detected late, due to which they are not able to get timely treatment. Now a new research has raised hopes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can change this situation.
What technology is currently used?
The study, conducted by scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Tech, Columbia University, and New York-Presbyterian, was published in the journal npj Digital Medicine. Currently, doctors use a specialized test called cardiopulmonary exercise testing to diagnose advanced heart failure. This test measures the heart and lung function, but it requires specialized equipment and trained staff, which are available only in large hospitals. Consequently, many patients are denied this test.
What the research revealed
In new research, scientists have developed an AI system that can predict the severity of a disease by analyzing a heart ultrasound (echocardiography) and a patient's general medical record. Importantly, this technology can estimate important parameters like peak VO2, which is typically only measured using CPET.
Using data from 1,000 heart failure patients
The system was developed using data from nearly 1,000 heart failure patients, including ultrasound videos, blood flow, and heart valve activity. It was then tested on 127 new patients, where the AI model identified high-risk patients with approximately 85 percent accuracy. The researchers say this technology can be easily used in everyday medical needs because it uses data that is already available. This will make it possible to identify patients who have previously been overlooked.
However, the scientists also acknowledged that more extensive testing is necessary before this technology can be implemented on a large scale. Ensuring the reliability and safety of AI systems is equally important.