Collaboration aims to empower clinicians with AI-enhanced diagnostics for heart failure and coronary artery disease beyond the walls of the hospital
Caption Health and Ultromics, providers in using AI to improve heart ultrasound diagnostics, today announced a strategic partnership to accelerate cardiovascular disease detection and treatment for more patients in more accessible care settings. Together, the companies will jointly offer the Caption AI™ software platform alongside Ultromics’ EchoGo® deep ultrasound analytics – allowing a broader set of providers the ability to perform ultrasounds and automatically calculate key indicators of heart function, which drive earlier and more accurate disease diagnosis.
Access to proper cardiac health care is a global problem, leading to countless preventable deaths. A limited number of specialists are available to perform and analyze cardiac ultrasounds – a key diagnostic procedure for identifying the beginning or progression of heart failure, valve disease, and coronary artery disease. According to a recent study, 46% of patients in the US diagnosed with heart failure in acute care settings had potential symptoms at primary care clinic visits in the previous six months – these issues were also more prevalent among women and Black patients. Meanwhile in the UK, the National Health Service announced it is receiving £5.9 billion to clear treatment backlogs and improve diagnostic services, reflecting the great need exacerbated by recent global events.
The platforms have already begun changing this landscape. Caption Guidance™, which received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA, is the leading AI acquisition and guidance software for cardiac ultrasound. Ultromics’ EchoGo® has dramatically eased the burden on experts by delivering automated analysis of left ventricular volumes, ejection fraction, cardiac strain, and diagnostic support of heart failure and coronary artery disease, saving significant time for users and – most importantly – improving outcomes by reducing variability between operators and equipment. Now, by linking these platforms, images acquired using Caption AI can be analyzed through Ultromics’ EchoGo® platform, making advanced diagnostic capabilities that had been limited to experts in specialty care settings and expanding their access to more doctors and patients in more places. In the new year, these integrated capabilities are expected to be available on the Butterfly iQ+ platform, as part of Butterfly Network, Inc. (NYSE: BFLY) and Caption Health’s strategic partnership.
“More efficiently delivered and robust patient care is a necessity for the healthcare system to really improve. This means empowering the entire care team and making diagnostics a key part of care that’s more accessible to patients,” said Steve Cashman, President and CEO of Caption Health. “With the combination of Ultromics’ enhanced analysis and Caption AI, providers will be able to capture images earlier and get more out of those images, maximizing benefits for patients. Together, we’ll help drive the move to earlier detection and diagnosis of cardiac disease in patients – enabling proper management alongside more cost-efficient and timely care.”
“EchoGo® is already delivering to experts an expansive set of fully automated, advanced clinical analysis and diagnostic support modules,” said Ross Upton, Founder and CEO of Ultromics. “This joint agreement will carry our platform beyond the walls of the imaging lab, allowing new providers with less experience the ability to perform diagnostic ultrasounds and gain advanced measurements of cardiac function and diagnostic support, for earlier and more accessible detection of cardiovascular disease.”
“The partnership between Caption Health and Ultromics aligns well with Butterfly’s ambition to empower clinicians to make easier, better, and more informed clinical decisions by leveraging the power of AI to reduce the complexities burdening traditional ultrasound,” said Dr. Todd Fruchterman, President and CEO of Butterfly Network. “The advanced assessment capabilities highlighted by Caption, Ultromics, and Butterfly will strengthen the capabilities of more clinicians, not just sonographers.”
About Caption Health
Caption Health provides an AI-guided ultrasound platform that can enable earlier disease detection and monitoring through AI-based diagnostics and analysis where it’s needed most – from clinics to ultimately the consumer. In 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services awarded Caption’s Guidance™ AI-based software platform with an NTAP designation in recognition of its ability to empower non-expert users to capture diagnostic quality images, which may substantially improve disease detection for relevant Medicare patients. Caption Health’s platform is used at leading hospitals, clinics, and physician organizations, and cited in several peer-reviewed journals including JAMA Cardiology and Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. For more information, visit captionhealth.com.
About Ultromics
Ultromics is an automated software as a service platform powered by AI that allows clinicians to make fast, accurate decisions when using ultrasound images to diagnose cardiovascular disease. Born at the University of Oxford and built-in partnership with the U.K.’s NHS, Ultromics has developed the first fully automated solution for echocardiography (EchoGo® Core, FDA 510(k), CE Marked) and analysis of global longitudinal strain (GLS). Ultromics delivers analysis to any vendor within minutes, with zero variability, without any disruption to workflow, and can even predict a patient’s risk of developing coronary artery disease (EchoGo® Pro. 510(k), CE Marked). Ultromics has partnered with leading research institutions, including the Mayo Clinic, NHS and American Society of Echocardiography. For more information, visit ultromics.com.
About Butterfly Network
Founded by Dr. Jonathan Rothberg in 2011, Butterfly has created the world’s first handheld, single-probe whole-body ultrasound system using its patented Ultrasound-on-Chip™ semiconductor technology. Butterfly’s mission is to democratize medical imaging and contribute to the aspiration of global health equity, including for the 4.7 billion people around the world lacking access to ultrasound. Butterfly is paving the way for earlier detection and remote management of health conditions around the world. The Butterfly iQ+ can be purchased today by healthcare practitioners in the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Butterfly iQ+ is a prescription device intended for trained and qualified healthcare professionals only.
