UltraSight, Mayo Clinic to advance next-generation cardiac care with AI

UltraSight, which is working to transform cardiac imaging, is collaborating with Mayo Clinic to enhance cardiac care by harnessing the power of AI in point-of-care ultrasound.

The two parties will jointly develop algorithms for analyzing and interpreting cardiac ultrasound images.

Why does it matter?

This collaboration aims to create a new end-to-end solution and decision support to help healthcare providers make more informed diagnoses and treatment decisions using point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) devices. By gaining access to Mayo Clinic's team of researchers, clinicians and data, UltraSight will be best positioned to enhance and scale its introduction of new cardiac solutions to the market.

With cardiovascular disease affecting approximately 130 million people globally, according to the American Heart Association, the demand for timely cardiac diagnosis and access to consistent cardiac care is on the rise.

On the record

"According to the American Heart Association, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease is more than 75 percent in individuals over 60," said Paul Friedman, M.D., Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "Early detection may prevent the progression of heart disease or stroke. The addition of AI to point-of-care ultrasound, widely available and inexpensive, stands to eliminate significant barriers to adoption by guiding users in image acquisition and supporting image interpretation - making the approach highly scalable for early diagnosis and periodic cardiac monitoring."

"UltraSight Real-time Guidance software harnesses the power of AI to allow more medical practitioners to capture images with confidence," said Davidi Vortman, CEO of UltraSight. "However, obtaining diagnostic quality cardiac images at the patient point of care is only the first step needed to increase patient access to quality care. We firmly believe that point-of-care ultrasound, when enhanced by the capabilities of AI, holds potential to optimize patient care. Through this collaboration, we plan to enhance our solution to detect and manage cardiac conditions in a more scalable and cost-effective way, ultimately helping more patients receive timely treatment."

"We know that over the next decade, training programs around the world will not graduate enough specialists and technologists to meet the demands of an aging population," added John Halamka, M.D., President of Mayo Clinic Platform. The best option in our toolkit is to embrace AI in a way that democratizes access to knowledge. Mayo Clinic and UltraSight will work together to enable a wider spectrum of caregivers to obtain cardiac ultrasound data and understand the results, serving many more patients globally."

The context

Mayo Clinic is now an investor at UltraSight and has a financial interest in its technology. It will use any revenue it receives to support its not-for-profit mission in patient care, education and research.

UltraSight's AI-driven software offers real-time guidance, making cardiac ultrasound accessible and efficient, which may lead to quicker diagnoses and improved patient care. The company was awarded a patent for its real-time guidance solution for ultrasound devices. UltraSight's software has FDA 510(k) Clearance, is UKCA and CE Marked to assist medical professionals in performing cardiac ultrasound scans.