Identifying inflammation is at the heart of the matter

CaRi-Heart technology can uncover deadly coronary inflammation and atherosclerosis and generate individualized cardiac risk.

Think heart attack, and you probably lay the blame at the door of the build-up of plaque that causes a dangerous narrowing of the arteries. However, over half of heart attacks and strokes occur in patients without these problems – and the primary culprit is inflammation. There is currently no way to identify the coronary inflammation that causes most of these heart attacks because inflammation is invisible on cardiac CT scans, which is the primary means of identifying the cause of recurring chest pain.

My take on this: While short-term inflammation serves as a vital shield against pathogens and injuries, its prolonged presence, characteristic of aging, is a considerable danger to the heart. Heart disease is the world’s biggest killer and chronic inflammation, contributes pivotally to both cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. Chronic, low-grade inflammation can be something of a silent killer, playing a role not only in CVD, but in cancer and type 2 diabetes, and driving aging itself, a process often called inflammaging. Oh, and systemic inflammation increases with age as well.

Now Oxford-based Caristo Diagnostics has developed an AI solution that can detect and quantify coronary inflammation, a primary driver of coronary artery disease. CaRi-Heart? can detect previously invisible coronary inflammation in routine CCTA scans meaning anti-inflammatory therapeutics can be administered.

We sat down with Frank Cheng, CEO of Caristo Diagnostics, to find out more about this world-first technology which is already in use in multiple NHS trusts and private hospitals in the UK, Europe and Australia and in the process of securing FDA approval for use in the US.

Heart attacks happen as a result of atherosclerosis (plaque) build-up and rupture in patients’ coronary arteries, and Cheng explains that cardiologists have known for many years that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease, as inflammation in the wall of coronary arteries drives the gradual build-up of plaque inside coronary arteries and also drives the eventual plaque rupture prior to heart attacks.

Cheng says that despite the importance of detecting and monitoring coronary inflammation, a majority of routine tests that clinical cardiologists currently rely on are only trying to detect arteries that are narrowed and thus causing a restriction of the blood supply to the heart muscle.

“Specifically, a coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA or cardiac CT scan), which is the first-line test recommended to diagnose coronary artery disease, measures coronary narrowings (stenosis) in the arteries caused by plaque,” he explains. “While plaque detection is important, it is only useful in the late stages of underlying cardiovascular disease.

Gain more insights on Caristo Diagnostics' interesting advancements in heart health and disease prevention, straight from Frank Cheng right HERE.

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