Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to expand its horizons in the field of medicine, and this time, it is positioning itself as a crucial ally in the fight against one of the deadliest diseases in the world: heart attacks.
A new AI program, developed and tested in UK hospitals, is demonstrating an astonishing ability to detect heart attack risks long before obvious symptoms manifest, using data from common computed tomography (CT) scans.
This advance represents a radical change in preventive cardiology. Until now, doctors relied primarily on traditional risk factors, such as blood pressure, cholesterol and family history, to assess the likelihood of a heart attack. While these factors are important, they are not always enough to predict future events, especially in apparently healthy patients.
This is where AI makes a difference. The program, powered by deep learning algorithms, pores over CT scan images, looking for subtle signs of inflammation in the coronary arteries. This inflammation, often invisible to the human eye, can be a silent precursor to plaque buildup and subsequent blockage of the arteries, which can eventually lead to a heart attack.
What's truly revolutionary is that the program can identify these risks years in advance, even a decade before a heart attack materializes. This early detection gives doctors a valuable window of opportunity to intervene and modify the course of the disease. Knowing the risk, they can recommend lifestyle changes, such as a healthy diet and regular exercise, or prescribe medications to control blood pressure, cholesterol or other risk factors.
In the UK, where more than 350,000 people undergo these types of CT scans annually, the implementation of this AI program could have a very important impact on public health. Early detection and timely intervention could save thousands of lives each year and significantly reduce the burden of heart disease on the healthcare system.
European health authorities have already approved trials of this AI program, paving the way for its widespread adoption across the region. Meanwhile, in the United States, studies are in a rigorous evaluation phase, generating great excitement within the medical community.
The non-invasive nature of this method is another plus. Unlike more invasive procedures, such as cardiac catheterization, CT scans are painless and do not require hospitalization. This facilitates its large-scale application, allowing a larger number of people to be evaluated and, therefore, more patients at risk to be identified and treated.
Without a doubt, this advance in the early detection of heart attacks is a testament to the transformative power of AI in healthcare. The ability to identify hidden risks years in advance opens the door to a new era of preventive medicine, where early intervention becomes the best weapon to combat deadly diseases and improve the quality of life of millions of people around the world.
Hopefully, in the not too distant future, it will be a standard tool to detect coronary problems as early as possible.
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