The ambitious project aims to transform how doctors diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease, giving patients real-time support to monitor their health alongside care from their doctor.
The ‘Enhancing Cardiac Care Through Extensive Sensing’ (ECHOES) project will develop accessible wearable technology that can be used to capture the experiences, symptoms and cardiovascular data of an individual during their daily life.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques will analyse the data alongside genetic and healthcare data, creating a digital twin of a patient’s heart to transform the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of heart and circulatory diseases; leading to better patient outcomes and more effective treatment.
The ECHOES project is one of four shortlisted international research projects competing for a single £30 million funding award from the British Heart Foundation’s Big Beat Challenge; a global initiative to galvanise researchers and inspire the development of transformational solutions to tackle the world’s biggest killer.
Professor Tim Chico from the University of Sheffield is the UK co-ordinator of the ECHOES consortium. He said: “Cardiovascular disease (CVD) often suffers from low rates of first time diagnosis, resulting in repeated hospital tests, appointments and delays to getting patients on the right treatment pathway.
“A digital twin that works in real-time alongside a patient - changing and aging with them - will provide a wealth of valuable information to assist doctors in diagnosing heart disease as early as possible.
“It may also be able to identify changes that haven’t yet caused any symptoms or signs, providing vital clinical information that can sometimes be missing from a patient’s medical history.
“Using pioneering technology and techniques we can view the cardiovascular system much like an engineer would a manufacturing system; to analyse and manage the conditions that will allow it to function at optimum levels for the patient for as long as possible.”
Professor of Translational Cardiopulmonary Science from the University of Sheffield, Allan Lawrie, will also be working with the ECHOES team. He added: “In Sheffield we have a long history of innovation within cardiac research, contributing to many breakthroughs and ‘firsts’ in treatment for a number of different cardiac conditions."