AI-powered blood test supports risk stratification of heart disease patients

A blood test powered by artificial intelligence (AI) has shown promise in the assessment of patients with total blockage of a heart artery.

Around 25% of patients with obstructive coronary artery disease on coronary angiography have a fully narrowed coronary artery. The blockage, known medically as chronic total occlusion, is associated with higher rates of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Observational trials suggest that percutaneous coronary intervention improves outcomes, but there is a lack of tools for identifying high-risk patients.

Prevencio, a developer of blood tests for cardiovascular diseases, has  developed the HART CVE multibiomarker panel, which uses targeted proteomics and machine learning. The panel incorporates results from N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide and other biomarkers into a weighted algorithm.

To assess the panel, Prevencio worked with Massachusetts General Hospital. In a study of 241 participants, patients with chronic total occlusions for an average of four years were followed for the occurrence of MACE, such as heart attack and stroke. The dataset included 67 MACE and 56 cardiovascular deaths or heart failure hospitalization events.

“The HART CVE panel provided excellent discrimination for predicting such risk throughout the 4-year follow-up period. By 4 years, compared to a referent low-risk population, the high-risk group had a greater than 12-fold higher MACE risk during the 4 years of follow-up and nearly 16-fold higher risk for CV death/HF hospitalization during that same period,” the researchers wrote.

Prevencio recently presented the findings at the 2023 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics scientific meeting held in San Francisco from October 23-26. The presentation followed the publication of a preprint paper covering the same research.

The panel is currently available as a laboratory-developed test, enabling Prevencio to try to drive sales of the product before it seeks U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Prevencio is talking to “multiple companies that have large immunoassay platforms placed in hospitals” about developing the panel and other tests on their systems ahead of working through the FDA process, according to 360Dx.