AI's Heartfelt Revolution: How Advanced Diagnostics Are Saving Lives and Billions

VIENNA, Austria – December 11, 2025 – A seismic shift is underway in the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease (CAD), the world's leading cause of death. New data, presented today at the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) conference, provides the most compelling real-world evidence to date that an AI-powered diagnostic platform can not only predict future heart attacks with startling precision but also generate massive cost savings for entire healthcare systems. The findings, stemming from a landmark study of over 90,000 patients within the UK's National Health Service (NHS), signal a new paradigm where artificial intelligence moves from a promising concept to a proven, scalable solution for one of medicine's greatest challenges.

The technology at the center of this transformation is the Heartflow FFRCT Analysis, a non-invasive tool that uses AI to create a personalized 3D model of a patient's coronary arteries from a standard coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) scan. By analyzing blood flow, it provides physicians with crucial data that was previously only obtainable through an invasive and costly angiogram. The latest analyses from the FISH&CHIPS study—the largest of its kind ever conducted—demonstrate that this innovation is delivering on the dual promise of superior patient outcomes and profound economic efficiency.

The NHS Blueprint for Fiscal Health

For years, healthcare administrators and policymakers have sought a path to rein in spiraling costs without compromising patient care. The FISH&CHIPS study, funded by the UK Medical Research Council and supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, offers a powerful blueprint. The analysis revealed that integrating Heartflow's AI into the diagnostic pathway for stable CAD resulted in an average per-patient cost saving of £1,042 GBP ($1,394 USD) over two years.

This figure is not a theoretical projection; it is a direct result of tangible changes in clinical practice. The data showed that the CCTA-plus-FFRCT pathway led to a significant reduction in downstream testing, including a 7% drop in invasive coronary angiograms—costly procedures that carry inherent risks. More importantly, it led to a 16% reduction in inappropriate angiograms, meaning fewer patients underwent invasive diagnostics that ultimately revealed no need for intervention. This optimization of resources is the core of the economic benefit.

When extrapolated across the health system, these savings are transformative, suggesting a potential £25 million GBP ($33.45 million USD) in annual savings for the NHS. This substantially exceeds the savings initially modeled by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) when it first recommended the technology, validating the long-term economic case for strategic investment in advanced diagnostics.

“These real-world data show that coronary CTA plus Heartflow FFRCT Analysis brings both clinical and economic value when utilized in a large health system,” said Timothy Fairbairn, Ph.D., the study's principal investigator from Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital. “The introduction of Heartflow FFRCT Analysis into the NHS resulted in fewer avoidable tests, lower inpatient and outpatient costs, and substantial overall savings for both the hospitals and patients. It’s a compelling example of how noninvasive AI-powered technology can reshape care pathways at scale.”

Beyond Diagnosis: The Power of Prediction

While the economic argument is compelling, the clinical implications are even more profound. The study moves the technology's application beyond simple diagnosis into the realm of predictive, personalized medicine. A key analysis of 7,836 patients demonstrated a direct and powerful correlation between a patient's FFRCT value and their future risk of a major cardiac event.

Investigators found that patients with the lowest FFRCT values—indicating more severe blood flow restrictions—faced a staggering four-fold increased risk of a future heart attack and a three-fold increased risk of cardiovascular death, independent of traditional risk factors. For the first time, clinicians have a non-invasive tool that can quantify an individual's specific, lesion-level risk.

The analysis pinpointed that lesion-specific FFRCT, which measures blood flow pressure just beyond a particular blockage, was the single strongest predictor of future heart attacks and revascularization procedures. This level of granularity allows physicians to move beyond a generalized risk assessment and tailor treatment strategies with much greater precision. A doctor can now identify not just that a patient has CAD, but which specific plaque is most likely to cause a life-threatening event in the future, enabling more targeted and timely interventions.

This shift represents a fundamental change in cardiology, moving from a reactive model that treats disease after a major event to a proactive one that aims to prevent it. As confirmed in the two-year data published in Nature Medicine back in May 2025, this approach also improves overall care efficiency, with the study showing a 14% relative reduction in cardiovascular mortality and an 8% relative reduction in all-cause mortality when FFRCT was available.

The Engine of Innovation and Adoption

The success of the Heartflow platform is not accidental; it is built on a foundation of cutting-edge technology and extensive validation. The company's AI models are trained on a proprietary dataset of more than 110 million annotated CTA images, giving them a level of accuracy and reproducibility that has been validated in over 600 peer-reviewed publications. With FDA clearance in the U.S. and a CE Mark in Europe, the technology has already been adopted by over 1,400 institutions globally, from the UK and Europe to the United States and Japan.

This broad regulatory approval and growing market adoption underscore a global trend. Clinical guidelines across the world, including those from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC/AHA), are increasingly recommending a CCTA-first approach for evaluating patients with possible CAD. Heartflow's platform serves as a powerful enhancement to this pathway, providing the crucial physiological data needed to make confident treatment decisions without delay.

“These data provide compelling real-world evidence underscoring the clinical value of lesion-specific Heartflow FFRCT Analysis to provide precise, localized physiological assessments,” said Campbell Rogers, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Heartflow. “We now see that lesion-specific FFRCT insights can also help predict which patients are most likely to experience future events, enabling clinicians to tailor care earlier with greater precision and reduce costs.”

The FISH&CHIPS study serves as a critical proof point, demonstrating that when innovative technology is deployed intelligently and at scale, the benefits are exponential. It provides a clear, evidence-based argument that investing in AI-driven precision diagnostics is not a cost center, but a powerful driver of both clinical excellence and fiscal responsibility. For healthcare systems worldwide grappling with the dual pressures of aging populations and constrained budgets, the message from the NHS experience is clear: the future of sustainable, high-quality cardiovascular care is being written with data.