NASCI 2022 Spotlights AI Benefits for Radiologists and Cardiologists

NASCI 2022, an annual event organized by the North American Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (NASCI), finished off in Cleveland earlier this month. Arterys was a proud gold sponsor and supported the event's overall theme that there is a valuable place for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medical imaging that supports the expertise of radiologists and cardiologists.

Current Challenges in Medical Imaging Highlighted at NASCI 2022

A full list of sessions and presentations covered at NASCI 2022 is accessible here. There was a lot of discussion on how trepidation remains in the industry around AI's impacts on radiologists and cardiologists. But demonstrated facts and use cases pointed out that the concerns are lessening. The benefits are stacking up with the growing adoption of AI in imaging.

Current Issues Facing Radiologists and Cardiologists 

Critical issues facing radiologists and cardiologists were discussed, including:

• 60% of radiologists report symptoms of burnout, affecting their well-being and the healthcare system as a whole. Burnout leads to:
  
  
• Higher medical error rates
• Risks to patient safety
• Poor workplace behaviors
• Depression and substance abuse issues, lapses
  
  
• There is a global shortage of radiologists, with their numbers failing to keep pace with the population growth rate and demand for imaging.   

• Radiologist/cardiologist workloads and the complexity of examinations expected in a given work day have significantly increased over the past few decades, further adding pressure to the shortages and burnout issues.  

• Radiology and cardiology practices are increasing productivity to maintain income levels while limiting their financial possibilities to employ new staff and declining imaging reimbursements.
  
  

How AI Supports Radiologists and Cardiologists 

Attendees heard specific examples of how AI is not replacing radiologists and cardiologists but supporting them in a myriad of ways:

• AI provides a solution that helps radiologists/cardiologists complete a higher volume of work efficiently.
  
  
• AI can reduce (or eliminate where possible) the manual, repetitive tasks that often contribute to radiologist burnout.
  
• AI and deep learning provide automated image analysis and interpretation which helps radiologists/cardiologists report scans faster, consistently, and more effectively.
  
  When incorporated across the cardiac MR workflow, Arterys’ Cardio AI provides radiologists with fast access to automated, quantitative cardiac MR image analysis, significantly reducing the tedium of operator-dependent manual tasks and saving up to 25 minutes per study.
  
  
• AI augments the work radiologists and cardiologists do by improving the physician experience. AI improves:
  
  
• The accuracy of diagnosis and treatment
• Operational efficiency
• The outcomes that matter to patients and providers
  
  
• AI augments cardiologists'/radiologists' expertise by standardizing medical image analysis and interpretation for faster diagnostic decision-making.
  
  

Arterys Co-Founder and Associate Professor of Radiology Presents at NASCI 2022

Albert Hsiao, MD, Ph.D., Arterys Co-Founder and Associate Professor of Radiology and Data Science at UCSD gave two presentations. One on Artificial Intelligence in Cardiac Functional Imaging and another on Deep Learning Quantification of Myocardial Strain and Hemodynamics.  

Artyers' Sponsored Session at NASCI 2022

We sponsored a presentation at NASCI's event.

Our session featured Ali B Syed, MD/Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford School of Medicine's Department of Radiology. Dr. Syed's presentation title was Comprehensive Congenital Cardiac MRI With 4D Flow. 

A recording of Dr. Syed's session demonstrating Arterys' Cardio AI platform capabilities can be seen below.

Notably, he shared two key points about Arterys’ Cardio AI:

• Cardio AI provides up to A 30% reduction in total scan times
• Cardio AI's accuracy of quantifying biventricular cardiac size and function is identical to those of expert clinical readers. 

If you would like to learn more, we encourage you to schedule a demonstration with one of our experts.