In a new study presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™, researchers revealed that AI can assist clinicians in accurately detecting congenital heart defects during routine prenatal ultrasounds. Pregnancy, the first official journal of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and a new open-access journal published the study.
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About one in four babies born with a heart defect receive a diagnosis severe enough to necessitate surgery or other medical intervention within the first year of life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect. The rate at which congenital heart defects are detected during routine ultrasounds is still below ideal despite advancements in prenatal care.
A group of doctors with one to 30+ years of experience examined 200 ultrasounds for the study. Each ultrasound was examined by 14 OB-GYNs and maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists, both with and without artificial intelligence (AI) software. The data were compared to find out if the software helped the clinicians identify cases that might be signs of congenital heart defects.
The results demonstrated that the AI system greatly enhanced a clinician's capacity to identify cases suspicious of congenital heart defects, regardless of a physician's years of experience or subspecialty training.
The results also showed that clinicians were more confident in identifying congenital heart defects and took less time to decide whether a case was suspicious.
At least half of prenatal ultrasounds in the United States are being looked at by non-specialists, medical professionals — including OB-GYNs — who may not be trained in prenatal ultrasound. That accounts for why the ability to detect congenital heart defects is still quite low, even in developed countries like the U.S.
Jennifer Lam-Rachlin, MD, Director, Fetal Echocardiography, Carnegie Imaging for Women
Lam-Rachlin, a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist, is the Assistant Clinical Professor in the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai West in New York City.
“Our findings show that the AI-based software significantly improved detection of ultrasounds that were suspicious for congenital heart defects not only among OB-GYNs but also among maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists. This has a tremendous impact in terms of neonatal outcomes and has the potential to change clinical practice,” continued Lam-Rachlin.
Most congenital heart defects occur in pregnancies that are considered low risk, which means the pregnant person is most likely being seen by an OB-GYN versus a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist who has more experience in detecting congenital heart defects. We built our AI software with experts to help elevate the detection rate, even among non-specialists, and drive earlier diagnosis to improve outcomes.
Christophe Gardella, Ph.D., Chief Technical Officer, BrightHeart
BrightHeart is the Paris-based manufacturer of the AI-based software.
In November 2024, BrightHeart obtained FDA 510(k) approval for its initial AI software product.