Technology that uses artificial intelligence to detect and prevent cardiovascular disease is now being developed at the University of Saskatchewan.

After obtaining his MD and PhD at USask, Dr. Scott Adams completed fellowships at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University. There, he gained expertise in using AI in healthcare, and brought his knowledge back to the prairies.

His team’s screening technology detects signs of biological aging as opposed to chronological aging, and will use environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors to determine which patients are at a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases.

In a clinical setting, images from a CT scanner would be sent to the AI engine, analyzed within a few seconds, and then sent to a radiologist for review. Adams says AI models have become extraordinarily capable of analyzing medical images in recent years. They can incorporate multiple factors including imaging, demographics, environment, genetics, and lifestyle to improve the AI model’s performance.

Adams says after the technology is fully developed, it must be extensively tested and then validated provincially, nationally, and internationally. The technology would detect diseases at early stages before they are visible to the human eye, enabling patients to receive treatment to reduce their risk of a heart attack or stroke.

As part of the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation Establishment Grant, the physician received $150,000 to jumpstart the development of his team’s disease detecting technology.