Malaysia Unveils AI-Powered Heart2Miss Breakthroughs At ESC-Heart Failure Congress

KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 (Bernama) -- Groundbreaking findings from Malaysia’s Heart2Miss heart failure screening programme were presented at the European Society of Cardiology–Heart Failure Congress on May 18, 2025, in Serbia, highlighting major advances in early heart failure detection powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Supported by AstraZeneca Malaysia, the initiative uses Us2.AI’s state-of-the-art cardiac ultrasound analysis and was launched in June 2024 with backing from Sarawak’s Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government, Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian.

In a statement, AstraZeneca said the programme’s effectiveness was demonstrated through the screening of 1,000 high-risk patients within a year, identifying 120 positive cases, by using a decentralised, community-based rapid cardiac ultrasound triage model.

“This approach leveraged the expertise of underemployed bioscience graduates as mobile community sonographers, reducing the burden on tertiary centres while enhancing patient referrals and outpatient management.

“Additionally, it facilitated earlier interventions and provided new career opportunities in health diagnostics,” the statement read.

According to the statement, 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 highlighted that the initiative demonstrates the power of combining innovation with equity, leveraging AI-echo (Us2.AI), telehealth and task-shifting to enable early heart failure detection at the community level.

“By training underutilised bioscience graduates as mobile echo screeners and introducing an intermediary care tier, we enhance primary care support and reduce burden on tertiary cardiac services,” said Foo, who is also the SGH Clinician-Researcher and Head of Human Physiology Lab.

Dr Diana Foo spearheaded the study alongside Dr Alan Fong, SGH’s Head of Clinical Research Centre. Their collaboration with AstraZeneca Malaysia has been recognised as a model public-private partnership in advancing health outcomes.

Ultimately, 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 major step forward for Malaysia’s healthcare system and aligns with global efforts to enhance early diagnosis and integrate AI into clinical practice.

-- BERNAMA

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