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Research fostered at RDM has increased the accuracy of echocardiogram interpretations, pinpointing many more people at risk of heart disease.

As part of its artificial intelligence showcase, Oxford University interviews Professor Paul Leeson, who heads the Cardiovascular Clinical Research Facility at RDM.

Professor Leeson is one of the founders of Ultromics, which aims to use artificial intelligence to improve the accuracy of echocardiograms interpretation – echocardiograms are the most widely used imaging test for people with heart disease, but it needs an expert to interpret the images and reach a diagnosis.

When the expert is good, then the test can be very accurate. But because levels of experience vary, this can be difficult to control. - Paul Leeson

But Professor Leeson’s team were able to use machine learning to get accurate clinical interpretations which outstripped human doctors, by combining machine learning and clinical know-how to identify associations between features in the echocardiography images and patient outcomes.

Find out more about how this technique could save lives by identifying more people at risk of heart disease.