Artificial Intelligence Technology Advances Heart Imaging

New artificial intelligence technology for heart imaging could allow doctors to examine a patient’s heart for scar tissue while eliminating the need for contrast injections typically required in cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR).

Reporting their findings in the scientific journal Circulation, University of Virginia Health System researchers compared the AI approach, known as Virtual Native Enhancement (VNE), to the contrast-enhanced CMR scans used to monitor hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The team determined the VNE produced higher-quality images and captured better evidence of scar tissue in the heart.

“This is a potentially important advance, especially if it can be expanded to other patient groups,” researcher and chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at UVA Health Christopher Kramer, MD, said in a press release.

“Being able to identify scar in the heart, an important contributor to progression to heart failure and sudden cardiac death, without contrast, would be highly significant. CMR scans would be done without contrast, saving cost and any risk, albeit low, from the contrast agent.”

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most common genetic heart disease and cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes. The disease causes muscles to thicken and stiffen, reducing the heart’s ability to pump blood and requiring close monitoring by medical professionals.

According to researchers, doctors can image the heart more often and more quickly with the new VNE technology. Additionally, the technology benefits patients who are allergic to the contrast agents used in CMR injection and patients with severely failing kidneys who are to avoid using agents.

The new approach works by using artificial intelligence to enhance the “T1-maps” of the heart tissue created by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The maps are combined with MRI “cines,” which in this case is the beating heart. By overlaying the two types of images, researchers created the artificial VNE image.

The technology can create imaging results virtually identical to the traditional contrast-enhanced CMR heart scans.

 “Avoiding the use of contrast and improving image quality in CMR would only help both patients and physicians down the line,” Kramer said.

While the current research examined VNE’s potential in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the AI creators also envision the technology’s use in many other heart conditions.

“While currently validated in the HCM population, there is a clear pathway to extend the technology to a wider range of myocardial pathologies,” the researchers wrote.

“VNE has enormous potential to significantly improve clinical practice, reduce scan time and costs, and expand the reach of CMR in the near future.”