New tool to enhance diagnosis in the NHS

Europe UK (Commonwealth Union) – The rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Britain has been far wider spread and quicker than many other nations.

An innovative AI tool making fast and comprehensive evaluation of the heart’s function may enhance future heart disease care. The new tool may assist the previous diagnosis and provide greater detailed information about the heart’s function.

The tool was produced by researchers at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. ‘The AI segmentation of cardiac MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) can automatically measure the cardiac function and the volume technology’ tool automatically identifies chambers of the heart on pictures obtained from MRI heart scans, carrying out tasks that would usually take lengthy manual analysis within seconds.

MRI heart scans are utilized by doctors for monitoring a patient’s heart health, by providing detailed information on the way the heart is pumping, paving the way for a diagnosis, or treatments initiated or adjusted.

Presently reading these results takes a lot of time and resources, with doctors and cardiac imaging specialists 1^st having to draw contours on the scan images of the heart, followed by complex volumetric and mathematical calculations to figure out blood flow in and out of the heart.

The researchers predict that the new AI tool will save both doctors and expert imaging specialists almost half an hour per scan, easing up NHS resources, while assisting prior diagnosis.

Dr Andrew Swift, Consultant Cardiothoracic Radiologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals who is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield says “Getting answers quickly and accurately will reduce even further the time it takes for patients to begin receiving the right treatment. Obtaining complex measurements showing how well both the left and right side of the heart is pumping is a time-intensive manual task. The AI segmentation of cardiac MRI to automate the measurement of cardiac function and volume technology overcomes this problem.”