Can Routine Chest X-Ray Predict Risk for Adverse Cardiac Events?

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence have enabled the use of “deep learning,” which involves processing complex patterns in pictures, text, and other data, to predict patient outcomes based on plain-film chest x-rays — likely by identifying coronary calcium deposits that go unrecognized by the human eye (Radiol Cardiothorac Imaging 2021; 3:e200486). Harvard investigators developed a deep-learning computer model using routine chest x-rays from ≈40,000 participants in a longitudinal cancer screening trial and evaluated its ability to predict 10-year risk for major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) in a separate group of 11,000 patients. Twenty percent of patients had both routine chest x-rays and sufficient electronic medical record da…