May 11, 2023

expert reaction to study looking at the use of artificial intelligence for heart attack diagnosis

A study published in Nature Medicine looks at the use of machine learning for diagnosis of myocardial infarction.

Prof Steve Goodacre, Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Sheffield, said:

“This intriguing study shows how AI can use complex analysis, rather than a simple rule, to improve diagnosis. This doesn’t (yet) show that we can replace doctors with computers. Experienced clinicians know that diagnosis is a complex business. Indeed, the “ground truth” used to judge whether the AI algorithm was accurate was a judgement made by clinicians.

“It will be interesting to see how clinicians in the emergency department use this algorithm. What will they do if they think the algorithm has got it wrong? The next stage of the research will hopefully answer that question.”

‘Machine learning for diagnosis of myocardial infarction using cardiac troponin concentrations’ by Dimitrios Doudesis et al. was published in Nature Medicine at 16:00 UK TIME Thursday 11 May 2023.

DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02325-4

Declared interests

Prof Steve Goodacre: “I am collaborating with some of the authors on other research projects, but have not been involved in this project.”