Artrya takes its AI health tech to USA for test run

Artrya Limited (ASX:AYA), a provider of AI-based technology to detect cardiac conditions, has executed a partnership with US-based Huntsville Heart Centre in Alabama to test the capability of Artrya's AI tech. 

The company's flagship Artrya Salix software will be run through a comparative test, putting the software up against the expert eye of trained practitioners to gauge the accuracy of Artrya's Salix AI software.

The Alabama based Huntsville Heart Centre (HHC) treats some 80,000 cardiac patients a year and is itself a leading player in coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in the US. 

(Source: CDC) graphic showing the prevalence of US heart conditions as a regional breakdown

A tale of man vs machine

HHC's R&D division, named Heart Center Research LLC, is to conduct the comparative study. 

The retrospective study will ultimately provide a benchmark for the accuracy of Salix software — fully titled Salix Coronary Anatomy — and its ability to detect coronary disease biomarkers, which Artrya notes includes components of high-risk plaque. 

The study will be expedited by the existence of in-house CT scans held by Heart Center Research, meaning a new raft of patients will not be required to be identified and briefed through the study. 

Multiple expert readers—in other words, human doctors—will then compare their interpretations of the CT scans to those produced by Salix. 

Heart disease leading cause of death in the US

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the US, with an estimated death every 36 seconds in the US. 

Some 659,000 lives are lost each year to cardiovascular concerns in the USA, providing significant commercial opportunity to Artrya, should its AI software take off in Alabama.

Despite announcing a string of expansions into the US this year—and establishing a subsidiary entity headquartered in Los Angeles—Artyra is down over -40% YTD through 2022.

Artrya's share price over the last six months compared to the XHJ health index