This Cardiologist is Using Artificial Intelligence in Heart Medicine

There is a common myth that heart disease is more of a problem for men than women, however women and men die at equal rates from heart disease. Studies have shown that men’s heart health is more researched and prioritized over women’s heart health which creates an issue in diagnostics.

Misdiagnosis or under diagnosis plague women with hidden heart issues and they won’t always get the treatment they need. Because of this irritating and unethical issue, cardiologist and researcher, Dr. Amod Amritphale is working to change this outcome of heart health in women. 

Symptoms of heart disease in women are very different than men, but the warning signs for men are published more in the media and are known to be more obvious than for women. Because of this, one woman will die every minute of cardiovascular disease and ninety percent of women have at least one risk factor that could tell them they have a chance of heart disease later on. Many more women die from cardiovascular disease than men and thegap is still widening.

“A lot of women with significant symptoms have been misdiagnosed as having anxiety or stress instead. We have to work on this advocacy to assure that women can have the resources and diagnostic tools they need to stay healthy and have access to treatment,” Dr. Amritphale states. As the director of the Women’s Heart Program at the University of South Alabama and the University Hospital in Mobile, Alabama, and as an Interventional Cardiologist, he can provide extensive literature for highlighting the issue. “I have taken up the onus to educate women of middle age to teach them the signs of heart disease and preventive methods so that they can seek help before it is too late,” he says. 

What’s different about Dr. Amritphale’s methodology is that not only is he advocating for, treating, and making preventative changes for women and their risk of heart disease, but he is also doing so using computer algorithm programs that he designed. He is also the Director of Cardiovascular Research at the University. “I am involved in extensive research. My focus of research is “Use of Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence in making better decisions in the field of medicine” and I am also using national databases like HCUP.

I use this program to develop algorithms that help identify patients who are at increased risk of bad outcomes so that we can preemptively identify them and help them before the worsening of disease processes occur. This helps people live better and live longer and prevents untimely or early death,” Dr. Amritphale says. This method is uniquely his, and he is revolutionizing how people can detect, treat, and determine cardiovascular treatment success with these programs he uses in daily practice. 

With various cardiovascular treatments and surgical processes, Dr. Amritphale is able to detect and predict whether or not patients will need to return for an unplanned readmission with his artificial intelligence computer algorithm.