Diagnostic Performance of General Practitioners in Carotid Plaque Detection Using AI-Enhanced Point-of-Care Ultrasound After Systematic Training
Primary care doctors using AI-assisted ultrasound detect dangerous artery plaques as accurately as specialists, making cardiovascular screening more accessible.
In 169 high-cardiovascular-risk elderly patients in Shanghai, systematically trained general practitioners using AI-enhanced point-of-care ultrasound achieved high-quality carotid plaque detection (sensitivity 87%, specificity 91%, κ=0.78) with excellent agreement against specialist standards. This study supports scalable deployment of AI-assisted POCUS for atherosclerosis screening at the primary care level, potentially improving cardiovascular risk stratification in underserved outpatient settings.
What the study was
- Study design
- Diagnostic accuracy trial
- Population
- High-cardiovascular-risk elderly patients (mean age 69.6 years) in Shanghai primary care setting
- Sample size
- 169
- Category
- Diagnostics
- Maturity
- Validated
- Journal
- Annals of Family Medicine
Why it surfaced
AI-POCUS for primary care cardiovascular screening with strong diagnostic performance (κ=0.78) in real-world elderly population; Ann Fam Med publication with immediate GP practice implications; scalable model for low-resource settings
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