Researchers are reporting that artificial intelligence (AI) has been used for the first time to instantly and accurately measure blood flow. The results of a new AI-assisted imaging technique helped predict chances of death, heart attack, and stroke and the technique can be used by doctors to help recommend treatments to improve outcome.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers took routine cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) scans from more than 1,000 patients and used a new automated AI technique to analyze the images. By doing this, the teams were able to precisely and instantaneously quantify the blood flow to the heart muscle and deliver the measurements to the medical teams treating the patients.
Peter Kellman from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, who working with Hui Xue at the NIH, developed the automated AI techniques to analyze the images that were used in the study, said: “This study demonstrates the growing potential of artificial intelligence-assisted imaging technology to improve the detection of heart disease and may move clinicians closer to a precision medicine approach to optimize patient care. "We hope that this imaging approach can save lives in the future.”
The study, which was coauthored by two NHLBI-supported researchers, appeared in the journal Circulation.