AI imaging gets to the heart of the problem

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Apr 09, 2024 View in browser   By Daniel Payne, Carmen Paun and Ruth Reader DIAGNOSIS AI systems are showing promise in predicting a common cardiac condition. | Getty Images An artificial intelligence system could make diagnosing a common cardiac condition more accessible, potentially leading to better care and improved treatments, researchers told Future Pulse. They and their colleagues recently published a study in JAMA Cardiology that argues AI could be suitable for predicting aortic stenosis, or the narrowing of the valve that connects the heart to the body’s main artery. The disease affects more than 1 million Americans who have an increased risk of heart failure or death. “It really moves the needle in terms of figuring out who these patients are that are at risk of developing aortic stenosis so that we can improve how we treat [them],” said Dr. Evangelos Oikonomou, one of the study’s authors. How does it work? The AI system takes video of a patient’s heart imaging from an ultrasound or MRI to find markers that could predict disease progression. The program predicts, on a scale from 1 to 100, the likelihood of a patient having or developing aortic stenosis. Its prediction includes an explanation of how the system came to its conclusion, highlighting the parts of the images that might be concerning. The new technology could make detecting risk more accessible and easier to track the disease’s progression. That additional data could help clinicians develop and evaluate new treatments. What’s next: The researchers plan to further study the system with an eye toward larger-scale deployment should the results remain promising. And similar tools could be on the way. Using AI to better understand health risks could go beyond clinical imaging, the researchers said, to potentially use smartphones or smartwatches to detect disease or understand treatments for a host of ailments.   YOUR GUIDE TO EMPIRE STATE POLITICS: From the newsroom that doesn’t sleep, POLITICO's New York Playbook is the ultimate guide for power players navigating the intricate landscape of Empire State politics. Stay ahead of the curve with the latest and most important stories from Albany, New York City and around the state, with in-depth, original reporting to stay ahead of policy trends and political developments. Subscribe now to keep up with the daily hustle and bustle of NY politics.      WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Yesterday's solar eclipse | Fern Leventhal This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. AI systems are watching more than just your heart health — they’re also watching dumpsters to better understand food waste and how to prevent it. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp. WORLD VIEW Available hepatitis B vaccines and treatments and hepatitis C cures haven't kept the disease from killing nearly 1.3 million people in 2022. | Getty Viral hepatitis killed nearly as many people as tuberculosis in 2022, with both diseases second only to Covid-19 as top killers. Some 1.3 million people died in 2022 due to hepatitis B and, to a much lesser extent, due to hepatitis C, an increase from the 1.1 million viral hepatitis deaths recorded in 2019, the World Health Organization said in a report out today. That’s despite an available hepatitis B vaccine and treatment and a hepatitis C cure, which has become much cheaper in the decade since Gilead brought it to the U.S. market for $1,000 a pill. Vaccination, testing and treatment rates remain low for both hepatitis types, which puts the global target of eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030 out of reach if governments don’t take action now, the WHO said. Increasing hepatitis B vaccination in infants and expanding testing and treatment against hepatitis B and C could help save nearly 23 million lives and prevent 15 million hepatitis-related cancer cases by 2050, the global health body said. Egypt offers a convincing example: In one decade, the country went from having one of the highest hepatitis C rates in the world to being on track to eradicating the disease. The North African country has diagnosed 87 percent of people living with hepatitis C and provided 93 percent of those diagnosed with curative treatment, exceeding the WHO gold-tier targets of diagnosing at least 80 percent of people with hepatitis C and providing treatment to at least 70 percent of diagnosed people. The key to Egypt’s success was locally manufactured copies of curative hepatitis C drugs, said the WHO. The country is using its success as part of a health diplomacy campaign, aiming to treat a million African patients against hepatitis C, according to The New York Times. Meanwhile, the U.S. has the highest absolute number of hepatitis C infections among people who inject drugs, followed by China, Russia, India and Ukraine, according to the WHO report. “Efforts to expand access to evidence-informed harm-reduction interventions and to hepatitis C testing and treatment in these countries is essential to reduce new hepatitis C infections worldwide,” the WHO said.   Easily connect with the right N.Y. State influencers and foster the right relationships to champion your policy priorities. POLITICO Pro. Inside New York. Learn more.     EXAM ROOM Researchers find that symptoms of long covid can be correlated to certain biomarkers. | Getty Images A new long Covid study identifies areas of exploration for potential drug research. Published in Nature, the study shows links between clusters of long Covid symptoms and certain biomarkers. A large U.K.-based study analyzed blood samples collected from 657 patients who had been hospitalized with severe Covid-19. A little more than a third recovered fully. Among the remaining 426 patients, researchers were able to correlate certain types of inflammation to proteins or immune system modulators. For example, heart and lung issues, fatigue and depression correlated to one set of proteins, while digestive tract issues and cognitive impairment were associated with a different set of proteins. The researchers say this means there isn’t one treatment for long Covid. “Whilst there are many commonalities in the kind of inflammatory response across all patients with long COVID, there are also quite a lot of distinctions based on people’s symptoms,” said Ryan S. Thwaites, a lead researcher on the study and professor of respiratory immunology at the Imperial College London’s National Heart and Lung Institute. “That could mean that treatments can be tailored or personalized towards different kinds of symptoms, or on the basis of biological tests.” Why it matters: One in 10 people, or 65 million people worldwide, with severe Covid are likely to develop long Covid, according to one frequently cited estimate. But the condition has no known cure. Researchers suggest some existing drugs could help stem the effects of long Covid, including anti-inflammatories like steroids and colchicine and immune system modulators like JAK inhibitors. They also mention naltrexone, used for alcohol and opioid use disorder. What’s next: Thwaites hopes this research spurs new long Covid drug trials and further research around inflammatory disease. “Hopefully, we’re pushing the envelope here that will inspire future work for those other kinds of post viral fatigue syndromes,” said Thwaites.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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