Artificial intelligence (AI), which is developing at a rapid pace, has found its way into the healthcare field, particularly radiology. The technology is being deployed in areas where diagnostic machines and healthcare personnel could miss or even be completely unaware of diseases lying underneath.
The UK National Health Service uses the CaRi-Heart AI technology developed by Caristo Diagnostics, an Oxford University spinoff company. With the help of AI, this medical imaging analysis software evaluates CT scan images to predict cardiac risk in individuals with suspected coronary artery disease. An algorithm that detects coronary inflammation and plaque is then assessed by trained operators to verify its accuracy.
The AI model’s recent groundbreaking advancement enables it to detect inflammation in the heart that does not show up on CT scans. Healthcare professionals, for the first time, can detect the biological processes that precede the blockage and narrowing within the heart.
While the previous available tools could only assess general risk factors, with this kind of AI technology, healthcare professionals will know exactly which patients have the disease activity in their arteries before the disease has even developed. The AI platform has been approved for use in Europe and Australia.
This platform is believed to make far-reaching changes in the healthcare field.
