A novel AI technology predicts if and when a patient could die of cardiac arrest

But what if an artificial intelligence (AI) system could provide some much-needed help? A study published this month in Nature Cardiovascular Research is outlining an AI that has been trained on raw images of patients’ hearts as well as patient backgrounds to predict if and when a patient could die of cardiac arrest.

Detecting patterns invisible to the naked eye

The AI is currently reported to be much more effective at this task than a doctor, detecting patterns in heart MRIs invisible to the naked eye.

“Sudden cardiac death caused by arrhythmia accounts for as many as 20 percent of all deaths worldwide and we know little about why it’s happening or how to tell who’s at risk,” told SciTechDaily senior author Natalia Trayanova, the Murray B. Sachs Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine.

“There are patients who may be at low risk of sudden cardiac death getting defibrillators that they might not need and then there are high-risk patients that aren’t getting the treatment they need and could die in the prime of their life. What our algorithm can do is determine who is at risk for cardiac death and when it will occur, allowing doctors to decide exactly what needs to be done.”

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