A new artificial intelligence tool (AI) developed in the UK can rapidly rule out heart attacks in people attending A&E and help tens of thousands avoid unnecessary hospital stays each year, according to its creators. Known as Rapid-RO, the AI tool has been found to successfully rule out heart attacks in over a third of patients across four UK hospitals during trials. Professor James Leiper, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which funded the study, said: “This research demonstrates the important role AI could play in guiding treatment decision for heart patients.
“By quickly identifying patients who are safe to be discharged, this technology could help people avoid unnecessary hospital stays, allowing valuable NHS time and resource to be redirected to where it could have the greatest benefit.” Blood tests are generally used to confirm diagnosis when a patient arrives at hospital with a suspected heart attack. These tests measure levels of a protein called troponin which rises when there is damage to the heart muscle.
However, this increase may not be reliably seen until hours later so people are often kept in hospital for further troponin tests and monitoring. Some of these patients will eventually be discharged without needing treatment after a heart attack is ruled out. Dario Sesia, a PhD student supported by BHF at Imperial College London , developed Rapid-RO to identify patients who are at very low risk of heart attack.
Rapid-RO was tr.
