Rapid AI Adoption for COVID-19 Fuels Disruption in Cardiology

COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented acceleration of digital transformation across the healthcare industry, prompting medical device companies to rapidly adopt emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). AI has been particularly disruptive to the cardiology medical device sector. From the list of AI-enabled medical devices that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year, approximately 57% of these devices fall under cardiology, according to GlobalData.  
 
Referencing its research, GlobalData expects the trend to continue, thus creating multiple opportunities for medtech companies. Spending on AI technology by medtech firms is set to grow 20.6% through next year, GlobalData predicts.  
 
“AI has certainly become quite the buzzword in cardiology subspecialities like electrophysiology and vascular medicine. One developing area where researchers are interested in incorporating AI is using AI to predict heart attacks in patients before they happen,” GlobalDataMedical Device Analyst Joselia Carlos said.
 
The World Health Organization cites cardiovascular diseases as the world’s leading cause of death—approximately 17.9 million people die of cardiovascular diseases every year. A heart attack occurs every 40 seconds in the United States; however, AI allows physicians to analyze large amounts of patient data to determine the patients most at risk of a heart attack and the potential timing of it. 
 
“One-way physicians can use AI to predict heart attacks is training AI algorithms to analyze medical images and identify patterns and signs of heart disease,” Carlos noted. “An example of this tool is Cedars-Sinai’s AI-enabled tool that analyzes coronary computed tomography angiography 3D images of the heart and arteries to study plaque accumulation in the arteries. By studying plaque build-up patterns using AI, physicians can better assess one’s likelihood of experiencing a heart attack in the future.”
 
GlobalData expects healthcare providers to be spending the most on AI platforms in 2024 (approximately $2.9 billion). 
 
“AI’s abilities in replacing notable professions, especially healthcare professionals such as doctors, has always been a controversial topic. However, when it comes to providing healthcare services, AI is not capable of developing that special trust bond between doctors and patients. If anything, doctors can use AI merely as a guiding tool, allowing them to focus more on developing their relationship with their patients and treating them,” Carlos concluded.