Expanding the Technology
They are also interested to see whether the technology can determine which valve is affected; for example, whether the issue is aortic stenosis or mitral regurgitation.
A limitation of the study was its small sample size.
Commenting on the findings, Dan Roden, MD, professor of medicine, pharmacology, and biomedical informatics, senior vice president for personalized medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, and chair of the American Heart Association Council on Genomic and Precision Medicine, noted that it demonstrated the AI-based stethoscope “did extraordinarily well” in predicting VHD.
“I see this as an emerging technology — using an AI-enabled stethoscope and perhaps combining it with other imaging modalities, like an AI-enabled echocardiogram built into your stethoscope,” said Dr. Roden.
“Use of these new tools to detect the presence of valvular disease, as well as the extent of valvular disease and the extent of other kinds of heart disease, will likely help to transform CVD care.”
The study was funded by Eko Health Inc. Dr. Rancier and Dr. Roden have no relevant conflicts of interest.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.