“Cheaper” and “safer” are two words that patients and providers alike would probably like to see more frequently used together in healthcare, and a new AI method for heart imaging just might be a prime example.
According to a study published recently in the scientific journal Circulation, researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have tapped AI to potentially allow doctors to examine a patient’s heart for scar tissue while eliminating the need for contrast injections typically required in the cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) now used to monitor hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most common genetic heart condition.
For the study, researchers compared the new AI approach, known as Virtual Native Enhancement (VNE), to the contrast-enhanced CMR scans used to monitor hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, concluding that the VNE produced higher-quality images and captured better evidence of scar tissue in the heart.
“This is a potentially important advance, especially if it can be expanded to other patient groups,” explained researcher and chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at UVA Health Christopher Kramer, MD. “Being able to identify scar in the heart, an important contributor to progression to heart failure and sudden cardiac death, without contrast, would be highly significant. CMR scans would be done without contrast, saving cost and any risk, albeit low, from the contrast agent.”
According to the researchers, doctors can image the heart more often and more quickly with the new VNE technology, and the technology potentially benefits patients who are allergic to the contrast agents used in CMR injection and patients with severely failing kidneys who are to avoid using agents.
The new approach uses AI to enhance the “T1-maps” of the heart tissue created by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The maps are combined with MRI “cines,” which are roughly comparable to movies of the beating heart’s moving tissue, thus creating the artificial VNE image.
According to the researchers, the technology can create imaging results virtually identical to the traditional contrast-enhanced CMR heart scans.
“Avoiding the use of contrast and improving image quality in CMR would only help both patients and physicians down the line,” Dr. Kramer said.
While the current research examined VNE’s potential in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the AI creators also envision the technology’s use in many other heart conditions.
“While currently validated in the HCM population, there is a clear pathway to extend the technology to a wider range of myocardial pathologies,” the researchers wrote. “VNE has enormous potential to significantly improve clinical practice, reduce scan time and costs, and expand the reach of CMR in the near future.”
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