ASX-listed medical AI company Echo IQ has launched its cloud-based platform for screening structural heart disease in the United States.

WHAT IT DOES

The software platform called EchoSolv supports the identification of structural heart diseases, including guideline-defined aortic stenosis at present, automating this process using AI. It can also complete bulk assessments at a rate of up to 48,000 per minute. 

Other key features of the software include role-based access controls for audit and usage traceability and optional SMS/email alerts for high-risk patients. It also comes as a web API for those looking to integrate it into existing workflows to deliver real-time results.

WHY IT MATTERS

Given that severe aortic stenosis has a two-year mortality rate of 50% when left untreated, it is important that high-risk patients are accurately identified using decision-support tools. 

"EchoSolv automates the identification of high-risk aortic stenosis patients. It heralds the beginning of a new era by improving the cardiologist’s focus on patients at-risk without requiring any change of cardiac imaging solution, no new hardware, no new devices, and no new interference with existing infrastructure," Professor David Playford, Echo IQ's chief medical advisor, said.

THE LARGER TREND

The commercial launch of EchoSolv in the US comes as the company recently announced positive findings from a clinical study evaluating the screening software's effectiveness. Its study, done in partnership with Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, used EchoSolv to screen 30,000 patient records. The study eventually showed EchoSolv successfully identifying sizeable cohorts of patients with severe aortic stenosis, as well as those with a high risk of death from the condition. 

EchoSolv's commercialisation is also backed by the appointment of Donald Fowler as president of Echo IQ USA. Fowler, who previously worked with Siemens Healthcare and Toshiba, is engaging several major hospitals, ambulatory surgery centres, and health systems in the country to sell their AI solution. 

Echo IQ is now working to incorporate additional conditions that EchoSolv can automatically identify, including heart failure, mitral regurgitation, and pulmonary hypertension. 

ON THE RECORD

"The launch of EchoSolv gives healthcare professionals a powerful new decision-support tool to help identify patients who might benefit from proven therapies for severe aortic stenosis. Whether used retrospectively to assess existing records or integrated into real-time clinical workflows, clinicians now have access to an additional layer of assessment in support of more effective patient care," Echo IQ chief commercial officer Deon Strydom commented.