Heart attacks are caused by coronary heart disease, the build-up of fatty plaques in the coronary arteries which supply blood to the heart muscle. Statins are widely prescribed for patients with coronary heart disease and reduce the risk of future heart attacks. CT scans are used in daily practice to evaluate for plaques in the coronary arteries. These scans contain a wealth of information which is invisible to the human eye and not captured by current standard assessments. “Radiomics”, the innovative technique of converting digital CT images into large-scale data, can create a unique “signature” of plaque structure based on 3D shape and texture. We aim to establish a new, precise, image-based signature of patient response to statin treatment by applying radiomics to routine CT scans of the coronary arteries. This could provide new insights into underlying disease pathways that are typically only explored under the microscope. In future, this image-based signature could potentially be used in clinical trials of new drug therapies.
Last updated17 January 2023