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CT scan images

Work led by Dr Charalambos Antoniades (Radcliffe Department of Medicine) shows that new artificial intelligence (AI) technology to scan for heightened blood vessel inflammation can calculate a person’s risk of death from Covid-19 and Covid-19 variants. The technology could be used to tailor their treatment and give them the best chance of recovery, according to new research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and presented at the British Cardiovascular Society's 2021 conference.

Severe cases of Covid-19 have been associated with a ‘cytokine storm’, where the virus spike protein causes the immune system to go into overdrive and produces a surge of damaging molecules called cytokines.

Now, by using routine chest CT scans, researchers at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine have developed a Covid-19 ‘signature’ using machine learning. The ‘signature’ detects biological red flags in the fat surrounding the blood vessels in the chest to measure the level of cytokine-driven vascular inflammation in people infected with the virus.

Read the full story on the Radcliffe Department of Medicine website.