Automated ultrasound image analysis to assess cardiac function
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Testing automated ultrasound image analysis technology to measure cardiac function and changes in circulating volume status
IRAS ID
179566
Contact name
Darrel Francis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Joint Research Compliance Office
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
There are two common clinical problems whose management could potentially be greatly assisted if a wider group of healthcare professionals had the tools to make reliable assessments.
The first, disorders of volume status (fluid overload and depletion) are common and notoriously difficult to assess reliably, especially for junior staff. Cardiac ultrasound can provide useful information, but only for the tiny fraction of healthcare professionals trained to use it.
The second, assessment of left ventricular function, is a common clinical need poorly answered by any other bedside test apart from cardiac ultrasound. Again, the vast majority of healthcare professionals are not trained to use this technology to be able to answer this question. Current strategies have focussed on pictorial recognition of very basic features which are not suited to providing an assessment of anything other than the most severe abnormalities and are totally impractical for serial reassessment.
A system which could help less experienced operators make reproducible measurements of volume status and left ventricular function would be very valuable.
We have developed technology which can, when linked to a commercial ultrasound machine, provide guidance to operators to improve the image they are obtaining, and then automates the measurement process.
The output are simple and clear numbers representing cardiac function and circulating volume status.
In this study we will test how closely these numbers agree with existing clinical examination of patients currently used to assess these problems.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/2192
Date of REC Opinion
21 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion