NHS trials AI tool to predict heart diseases

‘Superhuman’ technology known as Aire can detect potential problems doctors cannot see from ECG results

• Pramod Thomas
• 25 October, 2024

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By: Pramod Thomas

THE NHS in England is pioneering a new AI tool, Aire, designed to predict the risk of fatal heart disease by analysing ECG results.

Developed to catch early warning signs invisible to doctors, Aire uses advanced algorithms to assess a patient’s risk of heart disease and other fatal conditions, offering potentially life-saving insights from a routine test, reported the Guardian.

Aire, known as AI-ECG risk estimation, is built to evaluate heart health through ECG data, a standard method for monitoring the heart’s electrical activity.

This tool can flag heart structural issues that are undetectable through conventional methods, enabling doctors to identify patients who could benefit from further testing or treatment.

The trial is set to begin at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, marking the first use of this technology in healthcare.

Initial testing will involve hundreds of patients, with the number expected to increase as trials continue.

Aire’s performance in early studies has been promising. Research published in The Lancet Digital Health showed that Aire correctly identified a patient’s risk of death within ten years based on ECG readings in 78 per cent of cases.

It was also highly effective in predicting the likelihood of heart failure (79 per cent), serious arrhythmias (76 per cent), and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (70 per cent).

The AI platform was trained using an extensive dataset, analysing over a million ECG results from more than 189,000 patients.

Dr Fu Siong Ng, a specialist in cardiac electrophysiology at Imperial College London, shared that the goal is for Aire to become a routine part of all ECG tests conducted in the NHS in the next five to ten years.

“This could transform early intervention, enabling preventative care based on specific risks identified by Aire,” he explained. Aire could prompt doctors to start treatments earlier or recommend lifestyle changes to patients, especially for conditions linked to factors like weight or exercise.

Dr Arunashis Sau, a British Heart Foundation research fellow, highlighted that Aire’s purpose is not to replace doctors but to offer predictive insights beyond what the human eye can detect.

“ECG is a very common and very cheap test, but that could then be used to guide more detailed testing that could then change how we manage patients and potentially reduce the risk of anything bad happening,” Dr Sau was quoted as saying.

“One key distinction is that the goal here was to do something that was superhuman – so not replace or speed up something that a doctor could do, but to do something that a doctor cannot do from looking at heart tracing.”

According to the report, the tool is also expected to help doctors personalise treatment plans. For example, if Aire signals a high risk of arrhythmia, doctors could take a more aggressive preventative approach.

Further trials and studies will determine the most effective ways to incorporate these insights into NHS treatment pathways, reports said.