Pilot project as the cornerstone of the Charité-Fraunhofer Centre for AI & Intelligent Sensing in Medicine

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide. Risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are used to predict the risk of heart disease and to plan preventive measures. People who have previously suffered a heart attack, stroke or heart failure are particularly at risk. In these patients, the risk of recurrent events varies greatly. Despite treatment, many suffer similar problems or other vascular diseases again. Therefore, an accurate assessment of risk is important to improve treatment.

New biomarkers could help to better identify individual risks and optimise treatment. In patients with cardiovascular diseases, there is a wide variety of comorbidities, which complicates the prognosis. Furthermore, diseases affecting other organs, such as the kidneys or brain, influence the course of heart disease. These interrelationships have not yet been sufficiently researched, but they are important for developing better treatments. Future research should focus on personalised approaches, for example by utilising modern technologies such as ‘omics’ and artificial intelligence, to better understand individual risks and disease mechanisms.

The project ‘Image-based personalised prediction of residual risk and prognosis for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases based on mapping data from the BELOVE study’ will be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for three years from 2023 under the SPP 2177: Radiomics: The Next Generation of Medical Imaging. Professors Dr Anja Hennemuth, Dr Jeanette Schulz-Menger and Dr Kersten Villringer are jointly leading and supervising the research project. Further significant support is provided by the work of ICM research assistant Ms Ann Laube.