The Heart and Lung Centre at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust to train AI for echocardiology.
The Heart and Lung Centre at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) has been given funding to help develop a national artificial intelligence training programme to look into the role AI plays within echocardiology.
Echocardiography is a non-invasive ultrasound scan that produces images of the heart and nearby blood vessels to visualise the heart’s structure and function in real time. It is a common test that can help diagnose heart conditions.
“UHNM’s heart support group has been instrumental in the development of a future national training program designed at equipping healthcare scientists with the knowledge and skills needed to be able to use AI when caring for patients within echocardiography,” said Sadie Bennett, cardiac clinical scientist at UHNM.
She added that the group had been asked for its thoughts on AI technology being used within healthcare and, more specifically, within echocardiography. Concerns were raised about patient safety, particularly if echocardiographers were not provided with appropriate training and educational resources.
“It’s as a result of these concerns that the British Heart Foundation awarding funding for me to look into AI within echocardiography, work that will then be used in the development of a national AI training program,” Bennett continued.
The research, which started this month, will run until the end of the year.
