ARTICLE SUMMARY:
Interpreting CT scans for signs of disease is a time-consuming process, but French start-up Nurea has developed advanced AI software that automates data extraction, enabling faster, reliable diagnoses of aortic aneurysms and other cardiac conditions from a single scan.
The incidence of aortic aneurysm (AA), along with other cardiac indications, is on the rise as age-related and lifestyle factors increase steadily throughout the global population. AA is defined as an irreversible, localized dilation of an artery to at least 150% of its normal diameter. Furthermore, to be considered a true aneurysm rather than a pseudoaneurysm, all three layers of the vessel (intima, media, and adventitia) must be affected. In severe cases, AA can dissect or rupture, accounting for close to 10,000 deaths annually in the US. Male patients with a history of smoking are at the greatest risk of AA and its complications.
For the diagnosis of AA, computed tomography (CT) is recognized as the gold standard technique. Once a CT scan is taken, clinicians must analyze the image for indicators of disease. This is a time-consuming process that leads to delays in diagnosis and treatment, while the potential threat to the patient’s health augments in silence. Working with surgeons and radiologists, Nurea co-founders Florian Bernard and Romain Leguay, PhD, identified a need for new tools to automate the process of extracting data from CT images.
