The University of Tampere and TAYS (Tampere University Hospital) Heart Hospital use artificial intelligence (A.I.) technologies developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in the home care of heart patients.The objective is to recognize serious difficult-to-predict complications as early as possible using the latest methods, said a press release. Recently, a clinical study led by Finnish researchers was launched in Tampere to use the latest analytical methods to recognize those myocardial infarction patients at high risk of complications.

The project makes comprehensive use of data generated during treatment, but which is usually fragmented into separate systems, and complements it by continuing to monitor how the patient's heart is functioning after he or she has been discharged from hospital. The mass of data thus gathered is analysed using A.I. and machine-learning methods, which have been taught with the help of former patient-treatment data and developed to be applied to myocardial infarction patients.

What the study means for the patients in practice is that a small ECG recorder is attached to their chest when they are leaving the hospital. It can also be linked to the Internet for monitoring purposes for as long as the measurements require.

"The results can be used to enhance patient safety and to target the monitoring more accurately at the patients who would benefit the most from it. In the TAYS area alone, up to a thousand patients a year can benefit from the study", said Kari Antila, Senior Scientist at VTT.