It’s well-known that fat around the heart increases the risk of heart attacks but up to now it hasn’t been practical to screen for it.
Pericardial fat volume can be used independently to predict cardiovascular events.
Importantly, heart fat volume remained a predictor of risk even after accounting for traditional factors such as age, blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes.
A large study followed nearly 12,000 adults who underwent CAC scans for approximately 16 years to track the development of cardiovascular disease. The researchers used AI to analyze participants’ scans and measure the fat surrounding the heart.
Higher pericardial fat volume provided increased value in borderline and intermediate risk patients and showed a 24% higher risk among individuals with low coronary calcium.
This is really value-added since the patients were getting CAC scans anyway and the pericardial fat found by the AI enabled cardiologists to warn patients who would have been dismissed with low coronary calcium.
This is a perfect example of the situation that @VeeEnn has told us about so many times. In this case, AI could be a lifesaver for many people at minimal added cost.
Wendy