AI-Powered Blood Test Proves Highly Accurate in Risk Stratification of Heart Disease Patients

Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO), a condition, that affects about 25% of individuals with obstructive heart disease, involves the complete blockage of a coronary artery. Generally, decisions regarding invasive treatments such as coronary stents are based on patient symptoms, a method that can be quite subjective. Now, an artificial intelligence (AI)--driven blood test has proved to be highly accurate for risk assessment in patients with CTO.

In a new study, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH, Boston, MA, USA) tested 241 patients, each with CTO in at least one coronary artery. The focus was on predicting the likelihood of serious cardiac events, including non-fatal heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular-related deaths, over four years. To achieve this, the team utilized Prevencio, Inc.’s (Kirkland, WA, USA) AI-driven HART CVE risk scores. HART CVE is specifically designed to predict a patient's risk of heart-related incidents over a one to four-year timeframe. The findings were compelling: patients identified as high-risk by the HART CVE scores were over 12 times more likely to suffer from a heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death compared to those categorized as low-risk.

Image: HART CVE assesses four blood proteins in an AI algorithm to calculate patient-specific risk score (Photo courtesy of Prevencio)

“Surprisingly accurate risk stratification models to predict risk and longer-term clinical outcomes in coronary Chronic Total Occlusion patients prior to invasive treatment has not been studied,” said James L. Januzzi, MD, a practicing cardiologist at MGH, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of Biomarker Trials at the Baim Institute for Clinical Research, and Principal Investigator in development, validation, and ongoing testing of the HART tests. “HART CVE demonstrated robust accuracy for determining risk in these Chronic Total Occlusion patients. Having an objective, accurate, inexpensive, and accessible blood test, such as HART CVE, to judge the risk for non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiovascular death may inform differences in need for intensity of medication, follow up frequency, and thresholds for conducting more expensive, invasive, and potentially more risky procedures, such as coronary stents.”

“The Chronic Total Occlusion patient population adds to a broad range of patients, including those suffering from diabetes, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, coronary heart disease, heart failure, aortic disease, and peripheral artery disease, which HART CVE has demonstrated accuracy for cardiac risk assessment,” added Rhonda Rhyne, Prevencio’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “With the rapid rise in cardiovascular disease, better tools to recognize risk and intervene proactively are needed, and we are pleased to offer HART tests for patient care and clinical trials.”

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Prevencio, Inc.
MGH