• chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    But it cannot detect heart disease. That requires an echocardiogram, a type of ultrasound scan, which patients often have to wait months for.

    Now a team have developed an AI tool that can spot signs of heart failure and heart valve disease – two of the most common forms of heart disease – from ECG results in “the blink of an eye”.

    The tech cannot be used on its own to definitively diagnose or rule out heart failure or heart valve disease, but it gives a very strong indication someone may have them.

    Someone judged as highly likely to have either could be sent rapidly for an echocardiogram, rather than wait months on the standard waiting lists. That could mean a quicker diagnosis which would enable them to start treatment earlier.

    Maybe it’s just pessimistic of me but I could also see this being used to make it harder to actually get the definitive test if the AI doesn’t notice your heart problems on the first pass, like the insurance won’t approve it or something like that

    • Dave.@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      3 days ago

      like the insurance won’t approve it or something like that

      That’s the part that’s broken, not the concerns that you might get false negatives.

      In any case, I would hope that the system would return “results inconclusive” rather than a hard no, prompting you to be put in the queue for normal diagnostics.

    • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      Ai tool isn’t a proof, so this cannot be used in definitive tests. The absence of something is not proof it isn’t there, you just didn’t found it. On the other side, it cannot proof you have an issue, it can just find signs of, so a real doctor have to look into it for proof. I do not think this can be used for insurance, even if the tool was quiet accurate in finding signs.

      • monkeyslikebananas2@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 days ago

        Yeah, like insurance companies give a shit. They will deny millions of people access with this result. They will use the savings to then pay lawyers to smother anyone who tries to fight it.