Improving the Prognosis of People with Cardiac Insufficiency

Scientists from Heidelberg and Mainz are collaborating in a joint research project to improve the frequently difficult prognosis of disease progression and hence the treatment options for people with cardiac insufficiency. The goal of the study is to use artificial intelligence methods and robotics to develop individualised therapies for such patients. The project is based jointly at the Medical Faculty Heidelberg of Heidelberg University and at the University Medical Center Mainz, the two lead partners, and it will receive five million euros in funding from the Carl Zeiss Foundation over a period of six years. Entitled "Multi-dimensionAI: linking scales of information to improve care for patients with heart failure", the project focuses on a patient group suffering from a frequent form of chronic cardiac insufficiency. This involves a stiffening of the left ventricle although a sufficient volume of blood is ejected. According to the experts, there are no standard forms of treatment able to reverse the changes in the heart muscle and improve the prognosis of the patients. Left untreated, the result might eventually be heart failure, underlines Junior Professor Dr Sandy Engelhardt from the Medical Faculty Heidelberg.