Mayo Clinic study says AI can detect heart disease in pregnant women

Chris Benson
·1 min read
UPI
New research by a Mayo Clinic cardiologist suggests AI has the potential to diagnose permpartum cardiomyopathy in women. File Photo by Lisa Runnels/Pixabay.

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The Mayo Clinic has announced that a digital stethoscope enabled by artificial intelligence can detect pregnancy-related heart disease.

New research -- lead by a Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Demilade Adedinsewo at Mayo's Jacksonville, Fla., campus -- suggests AI has the potential to diagnose peripartum cardiomyopathy, a potentially life-threatening but treatable condition that weakens a woman's heart muscle during pregnancy or after giving birth.

The new digital stethoscope captures electrocardiogram data and heart sounds to identify twice as many cases of peripartum cardiomyopathy compared to regular care, according to the American Heart Association.

Identifying a weak heart pump caused by pregnancy is crucial because symptoms -- like shortness of breath, swelling, weight gain and rapid heartbeat -- can be confused with normal pregnancy symptoms.

Nigerian women have high cases reported of peripartum cardiomyopathy, according to a study. The randomized clinical trial enrolled 1,195 women receiving pregnancy care in Nigeria and was able to predict peripartum cardiomyopathy when the AI-enabled digital stethoscope was put to use.