Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 29, 2025

A Simplified Stepwise Approach to Echo Guidance during Percutaneous Mitral Valve Repair
Published on: October 16, 2021
Developing an AI-assisted digital auscultation tool for automatic assessment of the severity of mitral regurgitation:
Li Zhang1, Zhenfeng Cheng1, Dongyang Xu2
1Department of Cardiology, Huzhou Central Hospital, The Fifth School of Clinical Medicine of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, The Affiliated Central Hospital of Huzhou University, Huzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Introduction:
Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most common valvular heart disorder, with a morbidity rate of 2.5%. While echocardiography is commonly used in assessing MR, it has many limitations, especially for large-scale MR screening. Cardiac auscultation with electronic stethoscope and artificial intelligence (AI) can be a fast and economical modality for assessing MR severity. Our objectives are (1) to establish a deep neural network (DNN)-based cardiac auscultation method for assessing the severity of MR; and (2) to quantitatively measure the performance of the developed AI-based MR assessment method by virtual clinical trial.
Methods And Analysis:
In a cross-sectional design, phonocardiogram will be recorded at the mitral valve auscultation area of outpatients. The enrolled patients will be checked by echocardiography to confirm the diagnosis of MR or no MR. Echocardiographic parameters will be used as gold standard to assess the severity of MR, classified into four levels: none, mild, moderate and severe. The study consists of two stages. First, an MR-related cardiac sound database will be created on which a DNN-based MR severity classifier will be trained. The automatic MR severity classifier will be integrated with the Smartho-D2 electronic stethoscope. Second, the performance of the developed smart device will be assessed in an independent clinical validation data set. Sensitivity, specificity, precision, accuracy and F1 score of the developed smart MR assessment device will be evaluated. Agreement on the performance of the smart device between cardiologist users and patient users will be inspected. The interpretability of the developed model will also be studied with statistical comparisons of occlusion map-guided variables among the four severity groups.
Ethics And Dissemination:
The study protocol was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Huzhou Central Hospital, China (registration number: 202302009-01). Informed consent is required from all participants. Dissemination will be through conference presentations and peer-reviewed journals.
Trial Registration Number:
ChiCTR2300069496.
More Related Videos
11:16In vitro Assessment of Aortic Regurgitation Using Four-Dimensional Flow Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: February 25, 2022
12:12Echocardiographic Approaches and Protocols for Comprehensive Phenotypic Characterization of Valvular Heart Disease in Mice
Published on: February 14, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Assessment of the Cardiovascular System IV: Auscultation
Normal Heart Sounds
S1 (First Heart Sound)-
S1 is made by the closure of the mitral and tricuspid valves (atrioventricular valves), marking the beginning of systole.
S2 (Second Heart Sound)-
S2 is made by the closure of the aortic and pulmonic valves (semilunar valves), marking the end of the systole.
Assessment of apical pulse
Assessing the apical pulse is a critical nursing procedure, particularly indicated for:
Assessment of apical radial pulse
The A-R pulse assessment involves simultaneous evaluation of the apical and radial pulses. When the apical and radial pulse rates vary, this assessment helps identify a pulse deficit.
Pre-Procedural Preparation