St. Peter's Hospital uses AI to screen for cerebral aneurysm risk groups…linking health screening to clinical care

 St. Peter's Hospital has introduced an artificial intelligence (AI) program that uses health screening information to identify those at risk of cerebral aneurysm. The plan is to single out, before the imaging stage, the examinees who need a detailed examination, and to refer those at risk to in-hospital testing and specialist care.

St. Peter's Hospital announced on the 24th that it has introduced 'ANRISK', a cerebral aneurysm risk analysis program developed by the medical AI company Talos.

A cerebral aneurysm is a condition in which part of the wall of a cerebral blood vessel balloons out, and it often causes no clear symptoms until it ruptures. Rupture can lead to subarachnoid hemorrhage and result in death or severe long-term disability, so early detection is important.

Confirming a cerebral aneurysm normally requires cerebrovascular imaging such as magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) or computed tomography angiography (CTA). However, since it is difficult to perform imaging uniformly on everyone who undergoes health screening, the hospital says the at-risk groups who need a detailed examination have to be identified first.

ANRISK estimates the risk of developing a cerebral aneurysm on the basis of information obtained during health screening, without a separate cerebrovascular imaging test. Blood test results such as hemoglobin, fasting blood glucose and total cholesterol, measurements such as height, weight, waist circumference and blood pressure, and family history and smoking status are used in the analysis.

The analysis is presented as a score between 0 and 100 and five risk groups. The factors affecting the risk level are also provided in order of contribution.

Unlike AI technologies that support reading by finding abnormal findings in medical images already taken, ANRISK focuses on identifying, before the imaging stage, those who need a detailed examination. It is not a program that diagnoses a cerebral aneurysm directly or replaces imaging; the analysis is used as a reference for judging whether a detailed examination is needed.

SUH, Dae Chul, professor of Neurointervention at St. Peter's Hospital, said, "Cerebral aneurysms usually cause no symptoms before they rupture, so it is hard for patients to notice anything wrong themselves," adding, "If risk factors such as a family history, hypertension or smoking overlap, it is worth checking the condition of your cerebral blood vessels at least once, even without symptoms."

The hospital plans to refer examinees identified as at risk by the AI analysis to in-hospital detailed examination and specialist care. Using 3.0 Tesla MRI and 640-channel MDCT, it will confirm whether a cerebral aneurysm is present and its location and size, and where treatment is required, follow-up care will proceed through joint consultation between Neurointervention and Neurosurgery.

Yoon, Kangjun, President of St. Peter's Hospital, said, "Once a cerebral aneurysm has ruptured, the treatment options left by the time a patient reaches hospital are greatly reduced, so the process of gauging the risk while there are no symptoms matters," adding, "With this introduction, we have built an in-hospital treatment process so that information identified at the health screening stage leads to actual examination and treatment."

He added, "Alongside treating disease, we will continue to strengthen our clinical and treatment capabilities in looking ahead so that illness does not develop in the first place."

Source: MediPana News (https://www.medipana.com)