Aidoc today announced a pioneering collaboration with the Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT) at UZ Brussel (UZB), becoming the first European hospital to use AI for cross-departmental care coordination, expediting treatment for suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) patients. Aidoc automatically flags suspected positive cases of PE and sends an automatic alert to UZ Brussel’s Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT), allowing for fast multidisciplinary decision-making and rapid delivery of life-saving treatment.
“The use of the new application is a step forward in expediting the treatment of pulmonary embolisms because the artificial intelligence allows the images to be evaluated in a systematic manner according to predefined criteria,” shared Frans Van den Bergh, interventional radiologist at UZ Brussel.
Pulmonary embolism is the third most common acute cardiovascular syndrome, resulting from a blood clot obstructing a lung artery, and can be swiftly fatal without prompt diagnosis and treatment. Early initiation of treatment is associated with better outcomes, but with hospital admissions on the rise and increased demand for CT scans from emergency departments, rapid communication of results to referring physicians is a constant challenge for radiologists1,2. AI-driven PERT solutions deployed in hospitals in the United States have shown great success, resulting in 40% reduction in time-to-treatment3 and 37% decrease in the length of hospital stays4.
“We are thrilled about our ongoing collaboration with Aidoc,” states Marc Noppen, CEO of UZ Brussel. “I’m delighted to witness Aidoc’s AI platform expand beyond radiology, delivering value to other service lines, which promises to bring huge benefits to our patients.”
Aidoc’s always on AI has already been running at UZB, assessing all chest CT exams for PE and prioritising suspected positive cases in the radiology workflow. Now, when a suspected acute PE case is identified by Aidoc’s AI, PERT members – comprising an interventional radiologist, cardiologist, pulmonologist and intensivist – receive a notification via Aidoc’s mobile app. The notification includes images and clinical data including the right ventricle-to-left ventricle ratio, an important predictor of adverse outcomes in acute PE. The app’s chat feature allows for secure cross-departmental discussion and for rapid action to be taken. Every step in the imaging workflow — from acquisition and algorithm activation to care escalation – is automatically facilitated by Aidoc’s industry-leading operating system, the Aidoc aiOS
.
“As our first partner in Europe, UZ Brussel is no stranger to AI, they were the first to implement our entire suite of Radiology AI solutions and now they are the very first hospital in Europe to deploy AI across service lines to manage and treat acute PE patients,” says Jeremy De Sy, RVP Sales and Innovation Europe at Aidoc. “This innovative approach not only enhances patient care but also sets the stage for a promising future of AI-driven healthcare across Europe.”
