Artrya has been cleared by the Australian government to commercialize an AI tool that diagnoses coronary heart disease. It has partnered with Perth-based radiology practice Envision Medical Imaging to market the product by early next year. AI tool, Salix, has been developed through the collaboration of researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA), Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and the Ottawa Heart Institute. Salix detects and assesses atherosclerotic plaque – a substrate of most heart attacks – in a patient’s arteries as seen in their cardiac CT scans. Using AI, it quickly produces a patient’s 3D heart image and a report detailing an assessment of their vulnerable plaque, stenosis, calcium score and total plaque burden within 15 minutes.
Artrya noted that around nine million individuals die each year from coronary artery disease. In Australia, it was the single leading cause of death in 2018, accounting for 42% of all cardiovascular deaths in the year and claiming 17,500 lives, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Around 580,000 adults were estimated to have lived with the disease between 2017 and 2018. The UWA previously stated that an AI tool detecting plaque build-up in the heart will enable “more accurate diagnosis and faster reporting across all aspects of healthcare, improving the quality and consistency of patient care”. Artrya’s Salix refers clinicians to high-risk results so they can triage patients early and determine who requires aggressive treatment to prevent the likelihood of a major adverse cardiac event. Meanwhile, the company said it is in the process of obtaining regulatory approvals in target international markets before launching its product there next year.