Australian researchers have made a major breakthrough in the fight against heart disease, developing an artificial intelligence system that can detect the deadly condition years before it causes a heart attack.
The technology uses AI to analyse bone density scans and identify early warning signs of cardiovascular disease.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: AI detects heart disease years before heart attack
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Philippa Lukeis thought she was in perfect health until the AI system detected calcium on a major blood vessel during a routine scan.
“Which really surprised me because I didn’t have any symptoms or anything,” she said.
The condition, called abdominal aortic calcification, is an early red flag for heart disease. For the 71-year-old grandmother, the results were a wake-up call.
“It was good because it was the catalyst to actually look at my lifestyle,” Lukeis said.
The AI system assesses hundreds of scans. Credit: 7NEWSPhilippa Lukeis thought she was in perfect health. Credit: 7NEWS
The AI computer system can assess hundreds of scans in a matter of seconds, flagging the condition years before a patient is at risk of a heart attack.
“What we showed there was a one in five of these middle-aged older people had moderate to high levels of disease, and there were two to three times more likely to go on to have a heart attack or stroke in the next five years,” Edith Cowan University Professor Joshua Lewis told 7NEWS.
The Heart Foundation-funded research used tens of thousands of bone density scans already in medical databases, making the discovery not just fast, but also cheap.
Because it utilises machines already in use around the country and world.
“It will ultimately allow us to detect the heart disease and intervene at a much earlier stage, and save lives, keeping more families together for longer,” Heart Foundation’s Dr Helena Viola said.
The team is hopeful the technology will become available for millions of Australians within a few years.
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