New AI model detects heart transplant rejection without biopsies
· News-MedicalBy analyzing heart rhythm recordings and blood tests, artificial intelligence may accurately flag when a transplant patient's body starts attacking a donated heart, a new study suggests.
The current gold standard for diagnosing heart transplant rejection is a biopsy, the surgical removal of a small piece of heart muscle, which experts inspect under the microscope for inflammation and other changes that may indicate that the body's immune system is rejecting an organ.
Led by NYU Langone Health researchers, the study explored an alternative method: whether combining electrocardiograms (EKGs)-which record the heart's electrical activity using sensors placed on the skin-with blood tests could help identify rejection without the need for an invasive biopsy in many cases.
"Our results highlight that electrocardiograms contain an abundance of physiological information that can be used to substantially improve the accuracy of detection and enable earlier diagnosis and treatment for patients with cardiac transplant rejection," said study senior author Lior Jankelson, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology in NYU Grossman School of Medicine's Department of Medicine and an associate professor of biomedical engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Published online Sept. 25 in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, the study is the first to combine these blood biomarkers with EKG readings in a single AI-enabled model and compare the analysis directly against biopsy results, the researchers said.
For the study, the researchers trained the combined AI model on EKG data along with the biomarkers from heart transplant recipients treated between 2018 and 2024, matching each EKG to a biopsy performed within the past month-a window supported by earlier research. Organ rejections were grouped into two categories: no or mild rejection versus moderate or severe rejection. Treatment changes, such as adjusting immune-suppressing medications, are typically made only for the more serious cases.
Dr. Lior Jankelson, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, NYU Grossman School of MedicineHeart transplantation is a major, resource-intensive procedure, and rejection is common but treatable if caught in time. Based on our findings, combining the availability of EKGs with the support of AI may help identify rejection earlier and save more lives."
Study funding was provided by NYU Langone.
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