<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="462876041" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{8}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">A</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">rtificial intelligence</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>(AI) used on high-quality cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is effective enough to achieve<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">accurate</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>myocardial scar quantification without the use of contrast agents, a</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>prospective U</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">.</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">K</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">.</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">-China study found.<span> </span></span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="365593368" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{10}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">The technology, known as AI</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>virtual native enhancement (VNE)</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>could therefore provide an “injection-free and significantly faster (10 minutes) alternative, therefore reducing scan cost, increasing clinical throughput and expanding CMR capabilities to include patients unable to have<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">gadolinium-based</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>contrast agents (GBCAs)</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">, the researchers<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">wrote</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">.</span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="1211731526" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{12}"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">The findings were published Tuesday online ahead of print in the<span> </span></span><em><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">Journal of the American College of Cardiology</span></em><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">, led by<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">Qiang Zhang, P</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">h</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">D</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">, from<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">the<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">University of Oxford,</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>England</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">.</span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="1918517137" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{14}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">Myocardial scar assessment is key for clinical management and prognosis in ischemic and other cardiac conditions, the researchers said, adding that current gold standard myocardial infarction (MI) and fibrosis assessments include CMR<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">. </span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="39841627" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{16}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">Increased time and costs associated with t</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">he administration of the required GBCAs</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">, as well as contraindication in some patients, has fuelled a growing interest in developing contrast-free imaging methods, for instance using AI-powered innovations.<span> </span></span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" lang="EN-US" paraid="650980863" paraeid="{9acf7fba-e52d-4424-9438-a7d6608e8334}{84}"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">VNE is one such breakthrough, combining pre-contrast images such as cine and T1 maps with AI models to enhance the intrinsic signals in these images and simulate LGE images without need for a GBCA.</span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="1734902776" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{18}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">“</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">However, despite their transformative potential, the clinical translation of AI-based solutions is hindered by challenges in generalizability, reproducibility, quality control, reliability, and a lack of evidence based on prospective, blinded assessments in real-world clinical settings, which collectively represent standards that many AI innovations have failed to achieve to demonstrate clinical<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">robustness,” the researchers stressed.</span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="1189842129" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{20}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">The current study therefore set out to assess the diagnostic performance of VNE in<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">myocardial scar detection using a<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW60435191 BCX0">multicenter</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">, blinded approach in real-world clinical settings.</span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="1425285209" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{22}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">The researchers used CMR data sets with<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">images<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">prospectively collected from</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>136 patients across</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>two sites, one in<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW60435191 BCX0">Fuwai</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">, China</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>(48 patients between November 2023 to March 2024)</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>and one in Leeds, UK</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>(88 patients from May 2023 to April 2024)</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">. Each site<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">independently determined scar presence on</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>LGE as “ground truth</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">”.</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"> </span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="965949080" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{24}"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">A third team in Oxford generated VNE images using only pre-contrast cine and T1 map images from the other 2 sites.</span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="1808083642" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{26}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">VNE diagnosis of MI<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">achieved 94.4% accuracy “on the basis of confident images” (n = 107) and 87.5% accuracy on all 136 images, the researchers said. </span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="325217462" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{28}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">Myocardial scar quantification by VNE correlated strongly with LGE (Pearson correlation coefficient</span><span> </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">[</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">R</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">]</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>= 0.90) and agreed closely with LGE (mean difference 3.2%; 95%<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">confidence interval [</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">CI</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">]</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">: −10.4% to +16.8%). </span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="2071205187" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{30}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">VNE-LGE agreement on infarcted myocardial territories was 90%</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">, the researchers added</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">. </span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="1336956611" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{32}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">“</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">The 4 clinical readers considered VNE adequate without proceeding to LGE in 69.7% of patients, and in these cases, VNE achieved an average diagnostic accuracy of 93.7%, comparable with that of LGE (93.9%)</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">,” they wrote.</span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="931586242" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{34}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">The technology<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">could at least triage the need for LGE, Zhang and<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">the<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">team<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">concluded.</span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="1019310813" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{36}"><strong><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">Source:</span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></strong></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" paraid="1684032267" paraeid="{51c80cb9-119a-472c-a455-5711da569a19}{38}"><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">Zhang Q, Zhou D, Tho</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">mpson P, et al.<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">Myocardial Scar Assessment Using Artificial Intelligence-Powered Contrast-Free MRI</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">:</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>A Prospective<span> </span></span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW60435191 BCX0">Multicenter</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>Study of Virtual Native Enhancement</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">.<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><em>J</em> <em>Am Coll </em></span><em><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW60435191 BCX0">Cardiol</span></em><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">.</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>2026</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span> </span>July</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">; DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2026.05.029.</span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></p> </div> <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW60435191 BCX0"> <p class="Paragraph SCXW60435191 BCX0" lang="EN-US" paraid="1802536855" paraeid="{cd44dd61-87da-4e70-a662-b1bd6512d4fe}{163}"><strong><span data-contrast="auto" xml:lang="EN-GB" lang="EN-GB" class="TextRun MacChromeBold SCXW60435191 BCX0"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0">Image Credit: </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW60435191 BCX0">Parilov</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW60435191 BCX0"> – stock.adobe.com</span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW60435191 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{}"> </span></strong></p> </div>