I had to be sitting down to read this one. This is a HUGE development in the field of AFIB, probably the most important one of 2019!
Basically, by looking at sinus (normal) rhythm ECGs, artificial intelligence algorithms were able to predict future occurrence of AFIB with sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of 79%.
This is something that cardiologists cannot currently predict. AI has already started surpassing human intelligence!
Here is the abstract from Lancet.
Future applications of this technology:
- Screening general population to see which patients are high risk for developing AFIB and recommending aggressive lifestyle changes to these patients and monitoring them more closely.
- Screening stroke patients to see who would benefit from anticoagulation
Great work from the Mayo team!