• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

  • Opinion
  • Health IT
    • Behavioral Health
    • Care Coordination
    • EMR/EHR
    • Interoperability
    • Patient Engagement
    • Population Health Management
    • Revenue Cycle Management
    • Social Determinants of Health
  • Digital Health
    • AI
    • Blockchain
    • Precision Medicine
    • Telehealth
    • Wearables
  • Life Sciences
  • Investments
  • M&A
  • Value-based Care
    • Accountable Care (ACOs)
    • Medicare Advantage

AI More Accurate for Cardiac Diagnosis than Echocardiogram Assessments

by Syed Hamza Sohail 08/31/2022 Leave a Comment

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print

What You Should Know:

– In a first-of-its-kind randomized clinical trial led by researchers at the Smidt Heart Institute and the Division of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, artificial intelligence (AI) proved more successful in assessing and diagnosing cardiac function when compared to echocardiogram assessments made by sonographers.

– The results, announced during a late-breaking presentation at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2022, have immediate translational implications for patients undergoing cardiac function imaging and broader implications for the field of cardiac imaging.

AI-Driven Diagnostic Models

Diagnosing cardiac pathologies from echocardiograms correctly can be an extremely challenging endeavor that only very skilled cardiologists can perform with ease. This latest breakthrough contains the potential to completely shift the narrative when it comes to diagnostic medicine, and can ultimately save countless lives in the near future.

Previously, researchers at the Smidt Heart Institute and Stanford University developed one of the first artificial intelligence technologies to assess cardiac function, specifically, left ventricular ejection fraction—the key heart measurement used in diagnosing cardiac function. Their research was published in the prestigious journal Nature.  

Building on this past research, the most recent study assessed the impact of artificial intelligence in clinical deployment as part of a prospective, blinded and randomized controlled clinical trial.

In the study, Cedars-Sinai cardiologists evaluated 3,495 transthoracic echocardiogram studies, comparing initial assessment by artificial intelligence or by a sonographer—also known as an ultrasound technician.

One of the major findings was that cardiologists more frequently agreed with the AI initial assessment, such that they corrected only 16.8% of the initial assessments made by AI and simultaneously corrected 27.2% of the initial assessments made by the sonographers. This difference demonstrated not only non-inferiority but actually the superiority of AI.

The research team also discovered that cardiologists were unable to distinguish between initial assessments made by the AI and sonographers.

“We asked our cardiologist over-readers to guess if they thought the tracing they had just reviewed was performed by AI or by a sonographer, and it turns out that they couldn’t tell the difference,” said Ouyang. “This speaks to the strong performance of the AI algorithm as well as the seamless integration into clinical software. We believe these are all good signs for future trial research in the field.”

Additionally, the Smidt Heart Institute research team learned that this type of clinical trial can be seamlessly integrated into the standard clinical workflow.

“We are excited by the implications of this clinical trial and what it means for the future of artificial intelligence and cardiology,” said Susan Cheng, MD, MPH, director of the Institute for Research on Healthy Aging in the Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute and EchoNet-RCT investigator. “When developed in the right way, artificial intelligence offers the opportunity to improve the quality of echocardiogram readings as well as increase efficiencies in the time and effort spent by busy cardiologists and sonographers alike.”

As a next step, Ouyang says the Smidt Heart Institute team plans to evaluate how AI analysis applied to Cedars-Sinai echocardiogram imaging procedures may improve clinical outcomes.

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print

Tagged With: AI, Artificial Intelligence, cardiac imaging, Cardiologist, Cedars-Sinai, Clinical Trial, Heart, MD, Ultrasound

Tap Native

Get in-depth healthcare technology analysis and commentary delivered straight to your email weekly

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to HIT Consultant

Latest insightful articles delivered straight to your inbox weekly.

Submit a Tip or Pitch

Featured Insights

Digital Health Funding Q3 2025: Choppy Undercurrents Beneath a Steady Surface

Featured Interview

ConcertAI VP Shares View on AI Hallucinations and the Fabricated Data Crisis in Scientific Publishing

Most-Read

Qualtrics Acquires Press Ganey Forsta for $6.75B to Create the Most Comprehensive AI Experience Platform

Qualtrics Acquires Press Ganey Forsta for $6.75B to Create the Most Comprehensive AI Experience Platform

Pfizer and Trump Administration Announce Landmark Agreement to Lower Drug Costs

Pfizer and Trump Administration Announce Landmark Agreement to Lower Drug Costs

KLAS Report: Epic's Native Ambient Speech Tool Reshapes Customer AI Strategies

KLAS Report: Epic’s Native Ambient Speech Tool Reshapes Customer AI Strategies

Epic Unveils MyChart Central and New APIs to Advance Interoperability at Open@Epic

Epic Outlines Roadmap for Next-Generation Data Sharing at Open@Epic

Epic Launches Comet: A New AI Platform to Predict Patient Health Journeys

Epic Launches Comet: A New AI Platform to Predict Patient Health Journeys

RevSpring to Acquire Kyruus Health, Creating a Unified Patient Experience

RevSpring to Acquire Kyruus Health, Creating a Unified Patient Experience

Oracle Confirms Layoffs in Kansas City

Oracle Confirms Layoffs in Kansas City

Philips Future Health Index 2025: AI and Digital Tech Can Help Solve Cardiac Care Crisis

Philips Future Health Index 2025: AI and Digital Tech Can Help Solve Cardiac Care Crisis

Optain Health Secures $26M to Advance AI-Powered Retinal Screening

Optain Health Secures $26M for AI-Powered Retinal Screening

Sutter Health and Epic Launch "Sutter Sync" to Optimize Remote Chronic Care

Sutter Health and Epic Launch “Sutter Sync” to Optimize Remote Chronic Care

Secondary Sidebar

Footer

Company

  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Reprints and Permissions
  • Submit An Op-Ed
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

Editorial Coverage

  • Opinion
  • Health IT
    • Care Coordination
    • EMR/EHR
    • Interoperability
    • Population Health Management
    • Revenue Cycle Management
  • Digital Health
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Blockchain Tech
    • Precision Medicine
    • Telehealth
    • Wearables
  • Startups
  • Value-Based Care
    • Accountable Care
    • Medicare Advantage

Connect

Subscribe to HIT Consultant Media

Latest insightful articles delivered straight to your inbox weekly

Copyright © 2025. HIT Consultant Media. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy |