Researchers say AI-based approach can predict when someone will have cardiac arrest

A new artificial-intelligence-based approach can predict if and when a patient could die of cardiac arrest, a recent study led by researchers at John Hopkins University has found. The technology, built on raw images of patients' diseased hearts and patient backgrounds, stands to revolutionize clinical decision-making and increase survival from sudden and lethal cardiac arrhythmias, one of medicine's deadliest and most puzzling conditions. The new study was published in the journal, 'Nature Cardiovascular Research'. "Sudden cardiac death caused by arrhythmia accounts for as many as 20 per cent of all deaths worldwide and we know little about why it's happening or how to tell who's at risk," said senior author Natalia Trayanova, the Murray B. Sachs Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine. "There are patients who may be at low risk of sudden cardiac death getting defibrillators that they might not need and then there are high-risk patients that aren't getting the treatment they need and could die in the prime of their life. What our algorithm can do is determine who is at risk for cardiac death and when it will occur, allowing doctors to decide exactly what needs to be done," she added.