Cardiology & Artificial Intelligence - The future is now.

It is safe to say that modern technology has been the driving factor in revolutionising the way we monitor and improve cardiovascular health. In the past 2 decades alone, there has been continuous innovation in bringing new ways of diagnosing and treating cardiovascular diseases.

In this article, we will look to explore the upcoming technologies, trends and companies who are looking to shape the cardiovascular space for the better.

Artificial Intelligence

We can all agree that only 15 years ago the though of integrating Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & deep learning in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases was nothing more than a pipe dream. On the contrary, these days, medical congresses all around the world are in continuous discussion, hoping to discover new ways to monitor, predict & improve patient outcomes.

AI and machine learning is now used to increase the speed of completion for reporting systems across the cardiology market. These technologies help cardiologist by locating potential problems in the heart and blood vessels for the cardiologist to review. With advanced pattern recognition developed from applying machine learning, that can analyse a much wider dataset than any human being, we may eventually reach to the point where machines can more accurately identify and diagnose conditions.

Volta Medical company founded in 2016, leverages AI to revolutionize interventional cardiac electrophysiology. Its cutting-edge software solutions use machine and deep learning algorithms to assist operations during cardiac ablation procedures. They have obtained FDA clearance for their VX1 AI software in 2020.

Similarly, VoxelCloud was founded by experts and scholars from leading institutions across LA, USA for the purpose of improving coronary heart disease, lung cancer & retinal diseases. VoxeCloud offers an automated medical imagine analysis algorithms and end-to-end solutions to help doctors make clinical decisions in a more accurate, accessible, and efficient way. They have to date, raised $28.5M from investors such as Sequoia Capital and Tencent.

Both Volta Medical & Voxel Cloud are ones to watch in 2021.

Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality

Much like AI, both AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) used to be a mere fictional concept. Now, the primary use of AR & VR in cardiology and healthcare is to provide sound training. This new technology can create an immersive training environment, allowing healthcare professionals to live out a scenario-based tasks in great detail before facing them in the real world.

Using AR and VR to train healthcare professional, doctors and nurses in the use of cardiac technology and surgical procedures, can reduce the risk of human errors significantly, resulting in preservation of human life by allowing students practice on digital models rather than human patients.

A company to watch out for in 2021 within this space is SentiAR who are developing the first 3D visualization platform using real time holography of the patient's anatomy and catheter location, "floating" over the patients. This will not only provide accuracy but also will minimise room for error across interventional procedures.

Wearable Technology

Wearable technology has become the norm for many people around the world for the use of monitoring cardiac health. These ready-to-wear cardiac devices such as watches, rings and bands are just a few of many examples of smart devices equipped with heart monitoring capabilities such as heart rate monitoring and some even have more advanced features such as the ability to product passable EKG (electrocardiogram).

The use of wearable technology has major benefits with the ability to detect early cardiac disorders such as AF (Atrial Fibrillation) and other conditions.

There are several companies who are transforming this space.

One in particular, AliveCor a pioneering start-up who have created FDA-cleared machine learning techniques to enable proactive heart care and is now recognized around the world for transforming cardiac care. KardiaMobile is the most clinically validated mobile EKG solution on the market. It is now recommended by leading cardiologists and used by people worldwide for accurate EKG recordings. AliveCor was recognised by FastCompany as 2018s No.1 most innovative company in Artificial Intelligence.

As technology & innovation takes us on a journey to a healthier future, I am excited to see on how it will affect the Cardiovascular market and the healthcare industry in 2021 and beyond.