• Osaka Metropolitan University creates AI app for precise cardiac assessment via chest X-rays.
• Enhances cardiac disease diagnosis in non-specialist settings with high accuracy.
• Revolutionizes healthcare by improving accessibility and effectiveness of treatment.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have introduced a pioneering AI application that accurately assesses cardiac functions and identifies valvular heart disease by analyzing chest X-rays.

This breakthrough, detailed in The Lancet Digital Health, underscores the merging of medical science and technology to enhance patient care.

Valvular heart disease, a contributor to heart failure, is typically diagnosed via echocardiography, which demands skilled technicians, causing a shortage. Unlike its use in lung disease detection, little was known about chest radiographs’ potential to reveal heart conditions.

The team, led by Dr. Daiju Ueda from the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at the university’s Graduate School of Medicine, tackled this by training an AI model on a diverse dataset.

Over 22,000 chest radiographs linked to echocardiograms were amassed from four facilities between 2013 and 2021.

The AI, armed with this combined input and output data, excelled in categorizing six specific valvular heart disease types. Its performance, as measured by the Area Under the Curve (AUC) index, reached up to 0.92—a high mark indicating effectiveness.

Dr. Ueda emphasized the significance of the research, highlighting its potential to enhance diagnostic efficiency, aid non-specialist settings, address night-time emergencies, and benefit patients for whom undergoing echocardiography is challenging. The study’s outcomes could profoundly shape cardiac disease diagnosis and treatment, revolutionizing healthcare practices.

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