The Vizion Expert Series spotlights the leading voices driving innovation in healthcare, life sciences, and medical technology. In this episode, we explore how AI is closing the diagnosis gap in cardiac amyloidosis — a serious, underdiagnosed heart condition where patients often wait three to five years for answers.
Host Tim Showalter, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Viz.ai, is joined by Dr. Ugo Egolum, Program Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program at Georgia Heart Institute, Northeast Georgia Medical Center, and a board-certified cardiologist specializing in advanced heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, and cardiac transplantation.
Together, they discuss why cardiac amyloidosis is far more common than once believed, how AI-enabled ECG and echo screening can surface at-risk patients before they become symptomatic, and what it takes to build trust in AI tools among rigorous, evidence-based cardiologists.
Topics discussed:
- What cardiac amyloidosis is: protein misfolding, amyloid deposits, and the two main types (ATTR and AL) that affect the heart
- The diagnosis gap: why symptoms overlap with common conditions, and how red-flag patterns prompt earlier workup
- Why now: new approved therapies have turned diagnosis from an academic exercise into an urgent imperative
- AI’s role: ECG screening, echo pattern recognition, and integrating clinical context to find patients earlier
- Building trust & training: the validation bar for AI tools and preparing the next generation of cardiologists
- The 5-year outlook: shifting heart failure from a hospital disease toward a proactive, outpatient model
