Extract from Laura Donnerlly 2019
Scientists have found a way to predict the risk of heart attack with 90 per cent accuracy – almost a decade in advance.
The breakthrough by Oxford University uses artificial intelligence to look “beneath the surface” of routine CT scans and spot biomarkers which can give early red flags. Scientists said 350,000 people a year could benefit from the checks, ensuring they were given the right treatment to avert potentially deadly attacks. And they could be rolled out across the NHS in as little as two years.
Currently, patients experiencing chest pains are sent for CT scans. In around one quarter of cases, these show blockages which can be treated with surgery. But most patients are sent home without treatment despite the fact many will later go on to have heart attacks. The new technology can detect dangerous build-up of fat and scarring around the organ. It allows medics to predict the likelihood of a heart attack over the next nine years with up to 90 per cent accuracy. Those deemed high risk can then be given medication and monitored more closely to prevent a deadly episode.
Professor Charalambos Antoniades, who led the study at Oxford’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, said until now medics could only see the “tip of the iceberg” when it came to heart risks.
The new technology allows doctors to see the full picture, he said. Speaking at the European Society of Cardiology conference in Paris, he said: “It is massively important because it will direct treatment and it will save lives. “A machine can read the scan and give you the accurate information. It can give you the specific risk of the patient, it can tell you that you need treatment or you don’t need treatment. “It is up to 85-90 per cent accurate at predicting heart attack over the next nine years.”
CT scans are currently used on about 40,000 high-risk patients each year. But Prof Antoniades said future guidelines are set to recommend using the technology to scan 350,000 people annually. They would typically be given to people aged 40 to 70 with chest pains or who are considered at particular risk of heart attacks because of obesity, smoking or diabetes.
Every year, almost 170,000 adults die from heart attacks, strokes or other circulatory conditions.