Artificial Intelligence in Cardiology: Applications and Obstacles

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is poised to alter the flow of daily life, and in particular, medicine, where it may eventually complement the physician's work in diagnosing and treating disease. Despite the recent frenzy and uptick in AI research over the past decade, the integration of AI into medical practice is in its early stages. Cardiology stands to benefit due to its many diagnostic modalities and diverse treatments. AI methods have been applied to various domains within cardiology: imaging, electrocardiography, wearable devices, risk prediction, and disease classification. While many AI-based approaches have been developed that perform equal to or better than the state-of-the-art, few prospective randomized studies have evaluated their use. Furthermore, obstacles at the intersection of medicine and AI remain unsolved, including model understanding, bias, model evaluation, relevance and reproducibility, and legal and ethical dilemmas. We summarize recent and current applications of AI in cardiology, followed by a discussion of the aforementioned complications.