August 2025 - Clemens Spielvogel and David Haberl

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Clemens Spielvogel, PhD and David Haberl, PhD

MedUni Wien RESEARCHER OF THE MONTH August 2025

Researchers at the Division of Nuclear Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that employs routinely performed nuclear medicine examinations to detect cardiac amyloidosis, an underdiagnosed and potentially fatal heart disease. The study published in The Lancet Digital Health analyzed data from over 16,241 patients across nine centers in Europe and Asia, including Vienna General Hospital (AKH). The AI system was trained on scintigraphy images, a common nuclear imaging examination technique that is performed for a wide variety of clinical questions. The diagnostic accuracy yielded by the AI system was at least equal to experienced physicians. Importantly, the system's predictions correlated with patient outcomes - those flagged by the AI had significantly higher risks of heart failure and mortality. The developed AI system may be used as an additional safety mechanism in conjunction with standard visual assessment by nuclear medicine physicians, thereby enabling more reliable detection and treatment initiation, improving survival and quality of life.

Selected Literature

1. Spielvogel CP, Haberl D, Mascherbauer K, Ning J, Kluge K, Traub-Weidinger T, et al. Diagnosis and prognosis of abnormal cardiac scintigraphy uptake suggestive of cardiac amyloidosis using artificial intelligence: a retrospective, international, multicentre, cross-tracer development and validation study. Lancet Digit Health. 2024;6:e251–60.

2. Ruberg FL, Maurer MS. Cardiac amyloidosis due to transthyretin protein: A review: A review. JAMA. 2024;331:778–91.

3. Rauf MU, Hawkins PN, Cappelli F, Perfetto F, Zampieri M, Argiro A, et al. Tc-99m labelled bone scintigraphy in suspected cardiac amyloidosis. Eur Heart J. 2023;44:2187–98.

4. Maurer MS, Schwartz JH, Gundapaneni B, Elliott PM, Merlini G, Waddington-Cruz M, et al. Tafamidis Treatment for Patients with Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy. N Engl J Med. 2018;379:1007–16.

5. Elliott P, Gundapaneni B, Sultan MB, Ines M, Garcia-Pavia P. Improved long-term survival with tafamidis treatment in patients with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy and severe heart failure symptoms. Eur J Heart Fail. 2023;25:2060–4.