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Artificial intelligence automation for heart ultrasound screening to detect rheumatic heart disease

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Artificial intelligence automation for heart ultrasound screening to detect rheumatic heart disease

Dr James Marangou, Menzies School of Health Research

2023 Vanguard Grant - Two Year

Years funded: 2024 - 2025

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a life threatening heart disorder that remains prevalent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. Detecting RHD in its early stages by heart ultrasound (echocardiography) enables commencement of treatment that prevents disease progression. Traditional echocardiography screening has been resource intensive, limiting its use. Alternative approaches involve task sharing with health workers undergoing brief training to screen for RHD. This has been shown to be accurate, but still requires specialist input to confirm a diagnosis. Artificial intelligence (AI) provides an opportunity to automate the diagnosis of RHD as part of task sharing. We aim to develop and evaluate an AI-based computer aided diagnosis system to enable the automated diagnosis of RHD from echocardiography performed by health workers in remote communities. This novel strategy has the potential to streamline diagnosis, improve access to guideline-based care and reduce disease burden.

Last updated12 March 2024