13 min
'AI' Helping Drs Catch Heart Failure EARLY The Debbie Nigro Show
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- Entrepreneurship
It's always great when you get a heads up that something bad's gonna happen and you can cut it off at the pass.
This artificial intelligence ability that we're privy to in this time of our existence on the planet is nothing short of amazing. Amazing, what goes on every day behind the scenes that we only hear about after for years and years of research.
Now artificial intelligence is helping cardiologists like Dr. Faraz Amad catch the problem of heart failure early. That is incredible.
Cardiologist Dr. Faraz Amad MD, MS, is also the Associate Director of Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute’s Center for Artificial Intelligence.
Dr. Amad said, “We’ve seen artificial intelligence affect our lives in so many ways outside of healthcare for the last several years and now in healthcare, we're trying to figure out ways we can use this technology to improve the quality of care and the lives of our patients.”
“Heart failure is a very common condition, it affects over six million adults currently. And so here in Northwestern, we wanted to leverage all the data we have across our health system to try to find a subset of these patients who develop what we call advanced heart failure. Patients with heart failure with severe symptoms that are persistent despite being on medical therapy. So with computers and these algorithms, we can search our databases and try to find these patients and we develop a whole system in which we can bring these patients into our heart failure specialty clinic in our very vast and expeditious way."
If somebody is that far down the road really struggling, where medications aren't working anymore, and you find through artificial intelligence that yes, they're probably going to go in that direction where it's going to be over and out. What can you do to stop that?
Dr. Amad, said, Right, it's a great question. It's why finding them early is so important because there are a lot of options for them. So we bring them into clinic and we talk to them about their history, how they're feeling, and their goals and preferences. And then for some patients, we can make medication adjustments that can make them help them feel better. Other patients sometimes need a minor procedure for the heart valve. Devices like pacemakers can really help some. But for a subset of patients, they may benefit from what we call advanced therapies. Things like heart pumps or heart transplants that can really help them live a long life and feel much better than they're currently feeling for a long time. So it's very important to find these patients early, which is why it's important to develop and test the technology.
Finding a heart to transplant is not the simplest thing from what little I know.
"No It's not", said Dr. Amad. "It's why we and other centers have a highly specialized team that does this. We evaluate patients, we discuss with them and their families and select and talk to patients. Patients who go for it with heart transplantation are the ones who will derive the most benefit. But it’s a process, like you said, and it involves a wait list. For some patients, things like heart pumps are really good options. It’s why we keep this team approach to figuring out what's the best way to help patients feel better for a long time."
As I’m talking with Dr. Amad, I'm thinking of a friend of mine who's waiting for a heart for a heart transplant. He's a very big guy and they have to find the right size heart. So that's one thing that's was in my head. The other thing that’s in my head is my dad died of heart failure. He was only 55 years old and it was 40 years ago. I wondered, would he still be alive if this information existed 40 years ago?
Dr. Amad said, “I think as a community, we have a lot more treatments and options to take care of patients to find them earlier and keep them living longer and healthier. I think with the whole portfolio of treatments we have, we can keep patients feeling wel
It's always great when you get a heads up that something bad's gonna happen and you can cut it off at the pass.
This artificial intelligence ability that we're privy to in this time of our existence on the planet is nothing short of amazing. Amazing, what goes on every day behind the scenes that we only hear about after for years and years of research.
Now artificial intelligence is helping cardiologists like Dr. Faraz Amad catch the problem of heart failure early. That is incredible.
Cardiologist Dr. Faraz Amad MD, MS, is also the Associate Director of Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute’s Center for Artificial Intelligence.
Dr. Amad said, “We’ve seen artificial intelligence affect our lives in so many ways outside of healthcare for the last several years and now in healthcare, we're trying to figure out ways we can use this technology to improve the quality of care and the lives of our patients.”
“Heart failure is a very common condition, it affects over six million adults currently. And so here in Northwestern, we wanted to leverage all the data we have across our health system to try to find a subset of these patients who develop what we call advanced heart failure. Patients with heart failure with severe symptoms that are persistent despite being on medical therapy. So with computers and these algorithms, we can search our databases and try to find these patients and we develop a whole system in which we can bring these patients into our heart failure specialty clinic in our very vast and expeditious way."
If somebody is that far down the road really struggling, where medications aren't working anymore, and you find through artificial intelligence that yes, they're probably going to go in that direction where it's going to be over and out. What can you do to stop that?
Dr. Amad, said, Right, it's a great question. It's why finding them early is so important because there are a lot of options for them. So we bring them into clinic and we talk to them about their history, how they're feeling, and their goals and preferences. And then for some patients, we can make medication adjustments that can make them help them feel better. Other patients sometimes need a minor procedure for the heart valve. Devices like pacemakers can really help some. But for a subset of patients, they may benefit from what we call advanced therapies. Things like heart pumps or heart transplants that can really help them live a long life and feel much better than they're currently feeling for a long time. So it's very important to find these patients early, which is why it's important to develop and test the technology.
Finding a heart to transplant is not the simplest thing from what little I know.
"No It's not", said Dr. Amad. "It's why we and other centers have a highly specialized team that does this. We evaluate patients, we discuss with them and their families and select and talk to patients. Patients who go for it with heart transplantation are the ones who will derive the most benefit. But it’s a process, like you said, and it involves a wait list. For some patients, things like heart pumps are really good options. It’s why we keep this team approach to figuring out what's the best way to help patients feel better for a long time."
As I’m talking with Dr. Amad, I'm thinking of a friend of mine who's waiting for a heart for a heart transplant. He's a very big guy and they have to find the right size heart. So that's one thing that's was in my head. The other thing that’s in my head is my dad died of heart failure. He was only 55 years old and it was 40 years ago. I wondered, would he still be alive if this information existed 40 years ago?
Dr. Amad said, “I think as a community, we have a lot more treatments and options to take care of patients to find them earlier and keep them living longer and healthier. I think with the whole portfolio of treatments we have, we can keep patients feeling wel
13 min