(image: Philips International B.V.)
SEOUL, March 9 (Korea Bizwire) — A South Korean research team said Wednesday it has developed new artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve the accuracy of stent procedure, by ensuring a rapid diagnosis of coronary artery clogging during the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Stent placement, in general, requires an optical coherence tomography (OCT) inspection that visualizes the microstructure of blood vessels to ensure accurate stent insertion, and a fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurement to verify the blood pressure within blood vessels.
However, in a life-threatening emergency situation, issues like the difficulty in inserting two different instruments into blood vessels, additional expenses, and side effects have made it difficult to apply such methods at clinical sites.
To address such issues, a research team from Yonsei University Severance Hospital developed a new procedure that uses AI technology to machine-learn the image of blood vessel structures identified through OCT inspection.
This procedure makes it possible to check the patient’s blood pressure without having to conduct an FFR test.
In a study of 130 individuals who underwent treatment for cardiovascular diseases, the newly-developed AI diagnosis procedure recorded an accuracy rate of 91.7 percent.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
