With AI, ECGs can find structural heart problems

And, some brain cells have backup batteries.

Global news you can trust. Download the Reuters App. Health Rounds Health Rounds By Nancy Lapid, Health Science Editor Hello Health Rounds readers! Today we report on yet another way artificial intelligence may improve medical care: It can help identify patients who should get ultrasound exams to look for structural heart problems. We also have new research about how neurons are equipped with "backup batteries," a finding that could shape new treatments for neurological conditions. In breaking news, see these stories from our Reuters journalists: US government hands over Medicaid recipients' personal data to ICE; Trump says Coca-Cola agreed to use real cane sugar in US; Texas probes M&M maker Mars over use of synthetic food dyes; as weight-loss spending soars, US employers plan to pare health benefits; and Britain's life sciences plan gets mixed reception from pharma industry. 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Sarepta to cut 500 jobs, add black-box warning on gene therapy.   3-person IVF technique spared children from inherited diseases, scientists say REUTERS/Lee Smith Eight children in the UK have been spared from devastating genetic diseases thanks to a new three-person in vitro fertilization technique, scientists from Newcastle University have reported. Study Rounds With AI, ECGs can find structural heart problems   Artificial intelligence (AI) can turn a common doctor's office test into a screening tool for detecting structural problems in patients' hearts, researchers reported in Nature. Their publicly available AI tool, called EchoNext, analyzes ordinary electrocardiogram (ECG) data to identify patients who should have an echocardiogram - a noninvasive ultrasound exam - to look for valve diseases, thickening of the muscle tissue, and other structural defects that can impair heart function. "We were all taught in medical school that you can't detect structural heart disease from an electrocardiogram," study leader Pierre Elias of Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York said in a statement. "We think that ECG plus AI has the potential to create an entirely new screening paradigm." EchoNext uses the cheaper ECG to figure out who needs the more expensive ultrasound, he said. When 13 cardiologists reviewed a total of 3,200 ECGs, they detected structural heart problems with an accuracy rate of about 64%, compared to a 77% accuracy rate for EchoNext, the researchers found. They next used the tool to review ECGs obtained in the past from nearly 85,000 patients. Based on those ECGs, the patients' doctors had sent 4,100 of them to get echocardiograms, which found structural problems in roughly 3,000. But EchoNext identified an additional 3,400 patients as being at high risk and needing the ultrasound exam. Because AI was unavailable when those ECGs were obtained, many of the additional patients may have had potentially serious structural heart disease that went undiagnosed, the researchers said. "You can't treat the patient you don't know about," Elias said. "Using our technology, we may be able to turn the estimated 400 million ECGs that will be performed worldwide this year into 400 million chances to screen for structural heart disease and potentially deliver life-saving treatment at the most opportune time." Worldwide, structural heart disease impacts 64 million people with heart failure and 75 million with valvular disease, with costs in the U.S. alone exceeding $100 billion annually, the researchers said. Top Health News on Reuters.com Democratic attorneys general sue to block HHS changes to ACA health insurance marketplaces. Bristol Myers, Pfizer to sell blood thinner Eliquis directly to patients. FDA authorizes Juul's e-cigarettes for sale in US. Some brain cells have backup batteries Neurons, the nerve cells that transmit information to and from the brain, are equipped with "backup batteries" that kick in to keep the brain running during periods of metabolic stress, researchers have discovered. Traditionally, it was believed that brain cells called glial cells served as "energy warehouses" for the neurons, storing a form of sugar known as glycogen and supplying it as needed for fuel. "But we now know that neurons themselves store glycogen and can break it down when the pressure is on," study leader Milind Singh of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut said in a statement. "It's like discovering that your car is a hybrid — it's not just reliant on gas stations, it's been carrying an emergency battery the whole time." The discovery was made during experiments with a microscopic roundworm called C. elegans and a fluorescent sensor that glows when cells break down sugar for energy. The findings could shape new treatments for neurological conditions in which energy failure plays a role, such as stroke, neurodegeneration, and epilepsy, the researchers said in PNAS. The team found the neuron's glycogen-dependent energy production is especially important when their mitochondria – their primary energy factories – are impaired, such as when the oxygen supply is limited. Under these conditions, glycogen serves as a rapid-access fuel source, helping neurons stay active when other systems might stall, the researchers said. "That flexibility might be crucial for how the brain maintains function and responds to stress," senior researcher Daniel Colón-Ramos, also of Yale, said in a statement. "This research reshapes our understanding of brain energy metabolism and opens new avenues for exploring how to protect and support neuronal function in disease." In case you missed it... Health Rounds: GLP-1 obesity drugs may boost low testosterone Health Rounds: 3D printed insulin-producing cells show promise for type 1 diabetes in lab tests This newsletter was edited by Aurora Ellis; additional reporting by Shawana Alleyne-Morris. Get full access to Reuters.com for just $1/week. Subscribe now. Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website Reuters Health Rounds is sent twice a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you've engaged with its contents. For more information on how we process your personal information and your rights, please see our Privacy Statement. Terms & Conditions © 2025 Thomson Reuters. 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