Aug 2026· Journal of Clinical Medicine· Vol 15· 0 citations· 99 references
Medicine
TL;DR
The role of AI-enhanced cardiovascular ultrasound in the transition from descriptive imaging toward predictive and personalized medicine is examined, with AI-enhanced cardiovascular ultrasound poised to become a central tool of precision cardiology.
Abstract
Cardiovascular ultrasound is a cornerstone of noninvasive cardiac and vascular assessment, yet conventional interpretation remains operator-dependent, variable, and limited in sensitivity for subclinical disease. Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and, most recently, vision–language and foundation models, offers tools to automate, standardize, and extend ultrasound analysis. This narrative review examines the role of AI-enhanced cardiovascular ultrasound in the transition from descriptive imaging toward predictive and personalized medicine. We conducted a structured literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar (January 2016–May 2026), combining Medical Subject Headings and free-text terms related to AI and cardiovascular ultrasound. Original studies, meta-analyses, reviews, consensus documents, and seminal works were considered. AI now spans the entire echocardiographic workflow, acquisition guidance, view classification, segmentation (Dice ≈ 0.92–0.94 on public datasets), and automated quantification of ejection fraction and global longitudinal strain, achieving expert-level accuracy and improved reproducibility. Across clinical domains, AI supports ischemia detection on stress echocardiography, heart-failure phenogrouping, Doppler-independent aortic stenosis detection, and carotid plaque characterization for stroke-risk stratification. Emerging vision–language and multitask foundation models (e.g., EchoCLIP, EchoPrime, and PanEcho) point toward general-purpose interpretation, and a growing number of tools (Caption Guidance, Us2.ai, and Ultromics EchoGo) have obtained FDA clearance and/or CE marking. Increasingly, AI-derived imaging biomarkers feed multimodal models that enable individualized risk prediction and therapy selection. AI-enhanced cardiovascular ultrasound is poised to become a central tool of precision cardiology. Realizing its potential will require prospective multicenter validation, cross-vendor standardization, attention to generalizability, interpretability, and reproducibility, and evolving regulatory and ethical frameworks.
A comprehensive narrative review of current AI/DL applications in ultrasound diagnosis, synthesising evidence across four major clinical domains and identifying recurring limitations across the literature - dataset heterogeneity, limited external/multicentre validation, and interpretability gaps - and outlines directions for future research toward clinically deployable, trustworthy AI-assisted ultrasound diagnosis.
R. Sivakumar, Arati Shahapurkar, J. G et al.· Adolescência e Saúde· 0 citations
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading global cause of mortality, with timely diagnosis and precise risk stratification serving as cornerstones of effective management. Traditional cardiovascular imaging and risk assessment have long been constrained by operator-dependent interpretation, time-intensive manual quantification, and a reliance on static, population-derived diagnostic thresholds. The rapid maturation of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning (DL), foundation models (FMs), and multimodal integration (MI), has catalyzed a paradigm shift toward automated, quantitative, and patient-specific cardiovascular evaluation. Between 2023 and 2026, AI-driven tools have progressed from retrospective proof-of-concept studies to early prospective clinical validations across echocardiography (EchoCG), cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), and nuclear imaging. Concurrently, AI-enhanced electrocardiography (ECG) and polygenic risk integration have enabled dynamic, longitudinal risk prediction models that outperform conventional scores. Despite these advances, clinical adoption faces substantial hurdles including algorithmic bias, limited generalizability across diverse populations, regulatory fragmentation, workflow integration challenges, and unresolved questions regarding clinical utility and cost-effectiveness. This review critically examines the technological evolution of AI in cardiovascular imaging, evaluates modality-specific applications and emerging digital biomarkers, appraises regulatory and implementation landscapes, and outlines priority research directions. We emphasize that successful integration of AI into cardiovascular care requires rigorous prospective validation, transparent algorithmic governance, equitable data representation, and human-AI collaborative frameworks. As cardiovascular medicine enters the era of precision diagnostics, AI will increasingly serve as a powerful augmentative partner in imaging interpretation, risk stratification, and therapeutic decision-making, provided its meaningful clinical implication is demonstrated through improved patient outcomes.
Xu Xia, Wasim Ullah Khan, Qaisar Khan et al.· Trends in cardiovascular med...· 0 citations
Background: Artificial intelligence (AI), which spans machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), computer vision, and natural language processing (NLP), is now used across obstetric care, including ultrasound interpretation (biometry, anomaly detection), fetal monitoring (cardiotocography), maternal risk stratification (preeclampsia, preterm birth, hemorrhage), labor and delivery decision support, genomic screening, and telehealth. Methods: We conducted a narrative (non-systematic) review of the literature published between 2016 and 2026, distinguishing the level of evidence supporting each application. Results: Reported performance is frequently high for image-based tasks such as fetal biometry and anomaly detection (accuracy and AUC often exceeding 0.85), whereas intrapartum CTG analysis remains modest (AUROC ~0.60–0.70, overlapping the inter-observer variability of clinicians). Most published evidence is retrospective and internally validated; comparatively few tools have undergone external or prospective validation, and only a small number have received regulatory clearance. Limitations: The evidence base is heterogeneous, external validation and calibration are often absent, and we did not perform a formal risk-of-bias appraisal. Conclusions: AI has real potential to improve prenatal diagnosis and individualized care, but claims that it is ready for the clinic are often premature. Prospective and external validation, calibration and clinical-utility assessment, transparent reporting, attention to bias and equity, and sustained clinician oversight are prerequisites for safe adoption.
I. Many, Ariel Many· Journal of Clinical Medicine· 0 citations
The continued integration of AI has the potential to improve diagnostic accuracy, streamline radiological workflows, and support more personalized patient care in the next generation of diagnostic imaging.
Mr. Vishal Walia, Mr. Honey Thakur, Ms. Ashwarya Sharma et al.· PAIN, JOINTS, SPINE· 0 citations
AI should be viewed not as a replacement for ultrasound professionals but as a decision-support technology that may improve consistency, efficiency, and diagnostic confidence when carefully validated in real-world clinical settings.
Bayan Alghamdi, Eman M Alrewily, Sharefa S Alghamdi· Ultrasound Quarterly· 0 citations
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common and highly heterogeneous inherited cardiomyopathy characterized by complex clinical phenotypes and diverse disease trajectories, posing significant challenges for early diagnosis, precise phenotypic classification, and risk stratification. Owing to its noninvasive nature, repeatability, and wide availability, echocardiography remains the cornerstone imaging modality for the diagnosis and longitudinal management of HCM. However, conventional echocardiographic analysis relies heavily on operator expertise and is limited in its ability to comprehensively extract latent structural, functional, and tissue-level information embedded within imaging data. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning, has undergone rapid development in automated echocardiographic analysis, enabling a paradigm shift from traditional morphology-based assessment toward data-driven intelligent decision-support platforms. This review systematically categorizes AI-based methods in echocardiography according to the complexity of data processing, ranging from single-frame structural and texture analysis to spatiotemporal modeling of cardiac function, multi-view representation learning, and ultimately multimodal integration incorporating diverse clinical data sources. We further summarize the clinical applications of these AI-based methods in HCM, including diagnosis and differential diagnosis, phenotype characterization, and risk prediction. In addition, current challenges are discussed, including limited interpretability, data heterogeneity, and insufficient large-scale clinical validation, and future research directions are proposed. Overall, AI-empowered echocardiography holds substantial promise for advancing precision diagnosis, risk stratification, and personalized management of HCM, facilitating a transition toward more intelligent and individualized cardiovascular care.
Unknown authors· Frontiers in Cardiovascular...· 0 citations
