Doctors have developed an AI tool that can detect signs of heart disease from a standard ECG in under two seconds, potentially speeding up diagnosis for millions of patients. Unlike a conventional ECG, which records the heart's electrical activity but cannot itself detect heart disease, the new tool extracts information beyond what a human can see to flag heart failure and heart valve disease, prompting patients to be fast-tracked for a confirmatory echocardiogram rather than facing lengthy waits.

The technology, trained on millions of ECGs, was presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Munich. In a US trial of 67,000 patients, funded by the British Heart Foundation, it correctly identified up to 81% of people with heart failure and up to 90% of those with heart valve disease. Researchers, including Prof Fu Siong Ng of Imperial College London, said the tool could also be used to opportunistically screen ECGs taken for other reasons, and future plans include developing handheld AI-led ECG readers for clinicians.