AI discovers a hidden heart signal that could predict sudden death
More than 300,000 people in the United States die from sudden cardiac arrest each year. This deadly emergency occurs when the heart's electrical system suddenly fails, causing the heart to stop pumping blood. It can strike older adults with known heart conditions as well as seemingly healthy young athletes. Although implanted defibrillators can prevent some of these deaths, doctors have long struggled to determine which patients need them most.
Now, researchers at UC Berkeley have identified a previously overlooked warning signal in routine heart scans that could make it easier to recognize people at risk before a fatal event occurs.
The discovery was made using artificial intelligence trained on more than 440,000 electrocardiograms, or EKGs, collected in Sweden. By comparing the electrical patterns recorded in these scans with information from death certificates, the researchers taught an AI system to recognize subtle differences between healthy individuals, patients with known heart risks,...
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