Medtech start-up, Predictive Health Intelligence, has designed a case-finding tool, that identifies previously hidden cases of liver disease. New research, presented at the major European liver congress EASL last month, has shown that almost 9 in 10 people who have abnormal liver blood test results are not being followed up.
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The technology, called hepatoSIGHT is a tool that searches through historic test results to identify patients who may be a risk for liver disease.
So, why is liver disease the focus of this new technology?
Chronic liver disease continues to increase in prevalence globally, yet cases remain severely underdiagnosed. The key stats according to the British Liver Trust:
- Since 1970, deaths due to liver disease have increased by 400%.
- It is currently the third most common cause of premature death in the UK, with 62,000 people aged between 18 and 65 dying annually.
- Liver disease costs the NHS £6 billion every year.
- It is referred to as a “silent killer” as often symptoms do not appear until the late stages of the disease. In fact, in the UK, three-quarters of people are diagnosed at a stage when it is too late for effective intervention.
Liver disease is increasing an already large burden on the health system. Therefore, it is crucial to introduce new measures to improve patient care and alleviate the pressures on the NHS. 90% of liver disease cases are preventable, and when identified early, treatments are available and effective.
‘’Identifying patients with early liver disease is very challenging,” says one of the study’s authors Dr Al Muthana Mohamed, a gastroenterologist at the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. “Most patients live everyday life with no symptoms until the late stage of their liver disease.”
The way that liver disease is diagnosed needs a significant overhaul. Luckily, an exciting wave of new technology is transforming the liver disease landscape. Instead of conducting invasive and costly biopsies, innovative ultrasound and MRI can now accurately image the liver while a new series of blood-based liver tests can monitor the organ’s health.
hepatoSIGHT joins this technological revolution with a pioneering case-finding tool that is currently being used to identify previously hidden cases of liver disease using existing patient data. This enables healthcare professionals to identify and keep track of the nearly 9 in 10 people who have signs they could be heading towards advanced liver disease that aren’t being investigated.
“Using hepatoSIGHT, we can explore patients' blood tests earlier in their disease and integrate the results to identify those needing further testing and assessment,” says Dr Al Muthana Mohamed.
The latest research used the heptoSIGHT technology to analyse the health data of 560,000 people. It identified nearly 9,000 individuals with prolonged abnormal liver functions, who did not receive further investigation that followed the established guidance and who could have benefited from more thorough tests and specialist advice.
The hope is that with these new technologies, healthcare professionals will be able to intervene earlier and provide the best care, preventing severe disease from developing. This empowers the NHS to make better use of money and leverage existing resources to better serve the population.
“By using hepatoSIGHT, we can bring those to our service and try to manage them early in their disease to prevent disease progression and cure them before their liver is too damaged to be treated,” says Dr Al Muthana Mohamed.
