Echocardiography-based AI for detection and quantification of atrial septal defect

We developed and tested a deep learning (DL) framework applicable to color Doppler echocardiography for automatic detection and quantification of atrial septal defects (ASDs).

Color Doppler echocardiography is the most commonly used non-invasive imaging tool for detection of ASDs. While prior studies have used DL to detect the presence of ASDs from standard 2D echocardiographic views, no study has yet reported automatic interpretation of color Doppler videos for detection and quantification of ASD.

A total of 821 examinations from two tertiary care hospitals were collected as the training and external testing dataset. We developed DL models to automatically process color Doppler echocardiograms, including view selection, ASD detection and identification of the endpoints of the atrial septum and of the defect to quantify the size of defect and the residual rim.

The view selection model achieved an average accuracy of 99% in identifying four standard views required for evaluating ASD. In the external testing dataset, the ASD detection model achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.92 with 88% sensitivity and 89% specificity. The final model automatically measured the size of defect and residual rim, with the mean biases of 1.9 mm and 2.2 mm, respectively.

We demonstrated the feasibility of using a deep learning model for automated detection and quantification of ASD from color Doppler echocardiography. This model has the potential to improve the accuracy and efficiency of using color Doppler in clinical practice for screening and quantification of ASDs, that are required for clinical decision making.