Researchers at Verily, a health subsidiary of Google, are currently conducting a study to diagnose cardiovascular disease by analyzing the retina of patients.
It could be that one day, cardiovascular risk factors will be diagnosed by simply testing the retina of the eye. In any case, this is the study currently being carried out by researchers from Verily, a health subsidiary of Google. Their work has been published in the journal Nature.
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the world: the world health organization (WHO) estimates that 17.5 million deaths are attributable to cardiovascular disease, or 31% of total global mortality. Of these deaths, an estimated 7.4 million are due to coronary heart disease and 6.7 million to stroke.
To overcome this sad trend, the researchers at Verily have developed an algorithm capable, from an eye scan, of defining a person’s age, blood pressure, whether he is a smoker or even , if she has diabetes. It is from these parameters that the machine should assess the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Towards a new screening tool?
The researchers used “deep learning models trained on data from 284,335 patients and validated on two independent datasets of 12,026 and 999 patients.” “We have also shown that trained deep learning models use anatomical features, such as the optic disc or blood vessels to generate each prediction.”
Cardiologist Michael McConnell, who drives cardiovascular innovations at Verily says that this algorithm has the potential to “provide new insight into retinal features that were not previously associated with cardiovascular risk factors or future risks. This tool could one day revolutionize screening for cardiovascular disease “.
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