Serbia: Groundbreaking findings from Malaysia's Heart2Miss heart failure screening programme were presented at the European Society of Cardiology-Heart Failure Congress, highlighting major advances in early heart failure detection powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the initiative, supported by AstraZeneca Malaysia, uses Us2.AI's cardiac ultrasound analysis. Launched in June 2024 with backing from Sarawak's Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government, Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, the programme demonstrated its effectiveness by screening 1,000 high-risk patients within a year and identifying 120 positive cases. This was achieved using a decentralised, community-based rapid cardiac ultrasound triage model.
The approach involved underemployed bioscience graduates working as mobile community sonographers, which reduced the burden on tertiary centres and enhanced patient referrals and outpatient management. It also facilitated earlier interventions and created new career opportunities in health diagnostics.
The programme's implementation at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) has significantly streamlined referrals and outpatient care, cutting patient wait times for appointments from nine months to just a few days at nearby health clinics. Heart2Miss Principal Investigator Dr Diana Hui-Ping Foo emphasized the initiative's success in combining innovation with equity, utilizing AI-echo (Us2.AI), telehealth, and task-shifting for early heart failure detection at the community level.
Dr Foo, who is also the SGH Clinician-Researcher and Head of the Human Physiology Lab, highlighted that by training underutilised bioscience graduates as mobile echo screeners and introducing an intermediary care tier, the programme enhances primary care support and reduces the burden on tertiary cardiac services.
Dr Diana Foo led the study alongside Dr Alan Fong, SGH's Head of Clinical Research Centre. Their collaboration with AstraZeneca Malaysia has been recognized as a model public-private partnership in advancing health outcomes. The Heart2Miss programme empowers primary care providers to detect heart failure early, even in high-risk, asymptomatic individuals at the pre-heart failure stage. It represents a significant step forward for Malaysia's healthcare system and aligns with global efforts to enhance early diagnosis and integrate AI into clinical practice.