Keya Medical has launched the DeepVessel FFR, a software device that utilizes deep learning to facilitate fractional flow reserve (FFR) assessment based on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). Cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the DeepVessel FFR provides a three-dimensional coronary artery tree model and estimates of FFR CT value after semi-automated review of CCTA images, according to Keya Medical. The company said the DeepVessel FFR has demonstrated higher accuracy than other non-invasive tests and suggested the software could help reduce invasive procedures for coronary angiography and stent implantation in the diagnostic workup and subsequent treatment of coronary artery disease. Joseph Schoepf, M.D., FACR, FAHA, FNASCI, the principal investigator of a recent multicenter trial to evaluate DeepVessel FFR, says the introduction of the modality in the United States dovetails nicely with recent guidelines for the diagnosis of chest pain. "I am excited to see the implementation of DeepVessel FFR. It comes together with the 2021 ACC/AHA Chest Pain Guidelines' recognition of the elevated diagnostic role of CCTA and FFR CT for the non-invasive evaluation of patients with stable or acute chest pain," noted Dr. Schoepf, a professor of Radiology, Medicine, and Pediatrics at the Medical University South Carolina.

Diagnosing emphysema and classifying its severity have long been more art than science. "Everybody has a different trigger threshold for what they would call normal and what they would call disease," said U. Joseph Schoepf, M.D., director of cardiovascular imaging for MUSC Health and assistant dean for clinical research in the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine. And until recently, scans of damaged lungs have been a moot point, he said. "In the past, if you lost lung tissue, that was it. The lung tissue was gone, and there was very little you could do in terms of therapy to help patients," he said.

Diagnosing emphysema and classifying its severity have long been more art than science. "Everybody has a different trigger threshold for what they would call normal and what they would call disease," said U. Joseph Schoepf, M.D., director of cardiovascular imaging for MUSC Health and assistant dean for clinical research in the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine. And until recently, scans of damaged lungs have been a moot point, he said. In the past, if you lost lung tissue, that was it. The lung tissue was gone, and there was very little you could do in terms of therapy to help patients.

"Everybody has a different trigger threshold for what they would call normal and what they would call disease," said U. Joseph Schoepf, M.D., director of cardiovascular imaging for MUSC Health and assistant dean for clinical research in the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine. And until recently, scans of damaged lungs have been a moot point, he said. "In the past, if you lost lung tissue, that was it. The lung tissue was gone, and there was very little you could do in terms of therapy to help patients," he said. But with advancements in treatment in recent years has come an increased interest in objectively classifying the disease, Schoepf said.