Using deep learning AI to predict health outcomes
Dr. Trayanova’s colleague Dr. Popescu is applying deep learning and AI to do more with computerized heart models to predict the future.
In a recent paper in Nature Cardiovascular Research, the research team showed their algorithm assessed the health of 269 patients and was able to predict the chance of sudden cardiac arrest up to 10 years in advance.
“This is really the first time ever, as far as we know, where deep learning technology has been proven to analyze scarring of the heart in a successful way,” Dr. Popescu says.
Dr. Popescu and Dr. Trayanova say the AI algorithm gathers information from the 3D computational heart models with patient data like MRIs, ethnicity, age, lifestyle, and other clinical information. Analyzing all these data can produce accurate and consistent estimates about how long patients might live if they are at risk for sudden death.
“You can’t afford to be wrong. If you are wrong, you can actually impact a patient’s quality of life dramatically,” Dr. Popescu says. “Having clinicians use this technology in the decision-making process will provide confidence in a better diagnosis and prognosis.”
While the current study was specifically about patients with a particular type of heart disease, Dr. Popescu says his algorithm can also be trained to assess other health conditions.
So when might you see this being used outside of a research study? Dr. Trayanova predicts 3D imaging of heart models could be available in 2 years, but first the technique must be tested in more clinical trials – some of which are happening right now.
Adding AI to the heart models will require more studies and Food and Drug Administration approval, so the timeline is less clear. But perhaps the biggest hurdle is that after approval the technologies would need to be adopted and used by clinicians and caregivers.
“The much harder question to answer is, ‘When will doctors be perfectly comfortable with AI tools?’ And I don’t know the answer,” Dr. Popescu says. “How to use AI as an aid in the decision-making process is something that’s not currently taught.”
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.