According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one person dies every 33 seconds in the United States from heart disease which is the leading cause of death for both men and women.

Many heart attacks can be prevented if plaque in arteries can be accurately identified in advance. Up until now, there wasn’t a viable way to determine how much plaque had built up in a patient’s arteries.

Plaque or atherosclerosis is made of cholesterol, fatty substances, cellular waste products, calcium and fibrin (a clotting material in the blood). It can partially or totally block blood flow through large or mediumsized arteries in the heart, brain, pelvis, legs, arms or kidneys, which can lead to heart disease, reduced blood flow to the heart, and other serious concerns.

Lee Health is leveraging its wellestablished coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) program with artificial intelligence (AI) from a company called Cleerly. This is an advanced tool that provides physicians and patients detailed, quantitative information about the amount of plaque in the arteries to the heart down to the cubic millimeter. This can identify patients who are at an increased risk for developing a heart attack (and some who may be at a high risk) prior to the development of any symptoms.

Using millions of annotated CCTA images, Cleerly AI algorithms quantify and characterize plaque and its features. The findings are then compared to raw images, analyzed by a trained physician.

Lee Health was the first hospital system in Florida to provide this specific noninvasive, AIpowered imaging to rapidly detect plaque buildup, predict potential heart problems and better help prevent heart disease. The cardiologists and radiologists at Lee Health have the most experience utilizing this technology of anyone in the region.

In as little as onehour, the Lee Health CCTA program, utilizing AI, alongside a physician, can generate a report detailing characteristics of any present coronary artery plaque, and, thus suggesting the risk of a future heart attack. This allows early medical intervention for prevention of a heart attack.

CCTA with AI is currently available through a selfpay program. Please contact Lee Health at 239 3437221 for more information. You can also visit leehealth.org/heart