By “harnessing the power of AI,” researchers at the University of Oxford have found a way to predict heart attacks at least five years in advance.

Medical Xpress reports that researchers funded by the British Heart Association (BHA) have developed a new biomarker – or “fingerprint” – that spots cardiovascular red flags using machine learning.

The biomarker, called the fat radiomic profile (FRP), detects “biological red flags in the perivascular space lining blood vessels which supply blood to the heart.” It also identifies “inflammation, scarring, and changes to these vessels, which are all pointers to a future heart attack.”

“This has huge potential to detect the early signs of disease, and to be able to take all preventative steps before a heart attack strikes, ultimately saving lives,” said Professor Charalambos Antoniades, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and BHF Senior Clinical Fellow at the University of Oxford, adding that they “genuinely believe this technology could be saving lives within the next year.”

Professor Metin Avkiran, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, had this to say:

“Every 5 minutes, someone is admitted to a UK hospital due to a heart attack. This research is a powerful example of how innovative use of machine learning technology has the potential to revolutionise how we identify people at risk of a heart attack and prevent them from happening.

“This is a significant advance. The new ‘fingerprint’ extracts additional information about underlying biology from scans used routinely to detect narrowed arteries. Such AI-based technology to predict an impending heart attack with greater precision could represent a big step forward in personalised care for people with suspected coronary artery disease.”

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