Researchers Gain New Insight Into the Heart Using AI
The emotional workings of the heart may be a mystery to many, but the intricate system at work within it’s walls is studied extensively by physicians and researchers around the world.
Recently, an often-evasive portion of the heart has opened up to researchers at the Queen Mary University in London thanks to advanced technology.
“The right ventricle is an important part of the heart, but due to anatomical considerations, we haven’t always been able to reliably image it using echocardiography like we do with the rest of the heart so not enough is known about it,” said Jose Vargas, MD, a cardiologist at the Washington DC VA Medical Center and an academic appointee at Queen Mary’s University in London.
Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imagining is a special MRI used to image the heart, but its relative newness to the medical world, and its higher cost make it less commonly accessible to researchers. For those trying to understand the structure, and genetic makeup of the right ventricle (RV), a lack of data to study has led to a historically limited view.
The UK’s Biobank is a large-scale, biomedical database of in-depth genetic and health information from more than half a million participants. Recently, they began adding cardiac MRIs to their databank and created an opportunity for the research team at Queen Mary’s University to compare more than 40 thousand images of the RV.
“This can help us to understand how the RV is structured and what it’s role is in the overall function of the heart. It can improve our diagnosis of cardiovascular disease and help us predict cardiovascular events,” he said.
The large database of information is one part of the breakthrough study. The other is the artificial intelligence researchers are using to record and study data faster. After processing 5,065 cardiac MRIs manually, the researchers took the data they had gathered and taught a deep-learning network to read another 27,516 MRIs with accuracy.
“This is an important step forward in cardiovascular imaging and, on a larger scale, the field of genetics,” said Vargas. “With artificial intelligence, we are able to tell the technology what to do and how to do it. And it can do it in seconds, providing us accurate results faster than humanly possible. This allows us to study larger datasets to better understand what causes cardiovascular conditions, and how to prevent them.”
Vargas joined the Washington DC VA Medical Center team last fall and is excited to apply these research techniques and advanced technology to the VA’s Million Veteran Program (MVP).
“The VA has an amazing resource in the Million Veteran Program. There are more than eight hundred thousand Veterans who have volunteered to have their genome sequenced as part of this effort, and it is a uniquely diverse population,” he said. “There are so many opportunities to advance science, and medical care with this VA program.”
Vargas hopes to use technology, like the AI in the RV project, to help target conditions that plague the Veteran community. For those who may be hesitant at the use of artificial intelligence in their health care, Vargas said the technology isn’t meant to replace your provider but act as an extension of them.
“Your medical providers help train these computer algorithms to help them learn how to better care for you,” said Vargas. “Artificial intelligence will change health care, but it will always start with the doctors you know and trust.”
To learn more about advancements through VA Research, visit: Office of Research & Development (va.gov)