AI Discovers Hidden Heart Crisis Behind Asthma Symptoms
An AI program called EchoNext analyzing ECGs flagged possible severe heart damage in a 45-year-old man who initially presented with asthma-like symptoms after wildfire exposure; a subsequent echocardiogram showed the heart barely pumped blood (about 10% ejection fraction) and a leaky mitral valve, leading to a heart transplant. Published in Nature Medicine, the case highlights AI's potential to detect cardiac issues that humans might miss and underscores ongoing efforts to make FDA‑approved AI tools more widely available to clinicians via the OpenEvidence platform, aiming to augment—not replace—doctors' decision-making.
