Clinical implementation of an AI-enabled ECG for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy detection

Christopher J. Love, Joshua Lampert, David Huneycutt, Dan L. Musat, Mahek Shah, Jorge E.Silva Enciso, Bryan Doherty, James L. Gentry, Michael D. Kwan, Ethan C. Carter, Vivek Y. Reddy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is often underdiagnosed. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based notification of HCM suspicion on a 12-lead ECG has been proposed to assist patient identification and evaluation. However, there has been no study to date to assess clinical implementation of this approach. Methods: In an open-label, multicentre prospective cohort study, Viz HCM (Viz.ai) - an AI-ECG software alerting of suspected HCM - was implemented at five healthcare systems between January and December 2023 to identify patients >18 years of age without prior HCM diagnosis. The coprimary endpoints were the percentage of HCM-suspected cases viewed by users and the types of follow-up actions. Additional outcome measures included the time to follow-up, demographic characteristics of enrolled patients and follow-up outcomes. Results: Out of 145 848 patients screened with algorithm-compliant ECGs, 4348 (3%) were alerted for suspected HCM. Users viewed 69% (3017/4348) of AI-suspected HCM cases. 217 patients met the study criteria and were enrolled with broad representation across racial and ethnic groups - including 23% Black, 9% Asian and 12% Hispanic or Latino. Of the enrolled patients, 182 (84%) had an indication for a total of 243 follow-up actions. The median (interquartile) time from ECG to diagnostic imaging indicating HCM was 7.5 (1.0-37.2) days. From the 217 enrolled patients, 17 (7.8%) were newly diagnosed with HCM - 8 inpatient and 9 outpatient. During the study, deployment of an optimised algorithm operating point helped reduce the alert percentage of algorithm-screened patients from 4.4% (2097/47868) to 2.3% (2251/97980), p<0.0001, with no difference in the enrolment rate by alerts reviewed. Conclusion: An AI-based ECG device for HCM can be implemented successfully in a variety of clinical workflows to help identify new patients with HCM. Future study is warranted to assess scalability and comparisons to standard of care.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number5608
JournalHeart
DOIs
StateAccepted/In press - 2025
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic
  • Electrocardiography

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

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