IDx (now known as Digital Diagnostics), a privately-held AI diagnostics company, today announced its founder and president, Michael Abramoff, MD, PhD, has been awarded U.S. Patent No. 9,924,867 for a system that can automatically measure arterial and venous diameters in blood vessels, an important predictor of cardiovascular health.

‍”It is exciting that we have developed a more efficient and accurate way of capturing this measure of cardiovascular health,” said Abramoff. “This represents one component of the work we are doing to develop an autonomous AI diagnostic system that accurately identifies patients at high risk of cardiovascular events.”

‍Since 2011, IDx has researched how algorithms can be used to assess cardiovascular health and plans to incorporate this patented tool into its existing AI platform. By combining blood vessel measurements with BMI, blood pressure, and other health measures, IDx hopes to provide physicians with a new level of understanding of early indicators of cardiovascular risk.

‍Measurement of arteries and veins have long been studied as important predictors of an increased risk of stroke, cerebral atrophy, cognitive decline, and myocardial infarction. Yet these measurements, when done by human experts are often inaccurate and may result in missing early warning signs that would allow physicians to initiate outcome-changing interventions. Using AI, the new patented method and systems overcomes these limitations to obtain more accurate measurements.

IDx is the developer of LumineticsCore™ (formerly known as IDx-DR), an AI-based diagnostic system for the autonomous detection of diabetic retinopathy that is currently under review by the FDA. If cleared, LumineticsCore (formerly known as IDx-DR) is expected to be the first autonomous, AI-based diagnostic system intended for use in the front lines of healthcare.