Scott Carpenter

Los Angeles, California

2/10/2021

Studies show that women and men die at almost equal rates of heart disease, yet there is more paraphernalia and research that support and educate the warning signs of heart problems in men rather than in women. Women are more likely to be misdiagnosed, or under diagnosed with heart problems and won’t get the treatment that they need. Cardiologist and researcher, Dr. Amod Amritphale is dedicated to changing that statistic. 

Cardiovascular disease is the number one risk for women, claiming the lives of 1 in 3 women every year; that means that approximately one woman dies every minute, and ninety percent of women have at least one risk factor that could develop into heart disease later. “Since 1984, more women have died from heart disease than men have and the gap between men and women’s survival rates continues to widen,” (Go Red For Women). The symptoms of heart disease in women are very different and are often not acknowledged by patients and sometimes physicians.

“Too many women end up getting misdiagnosed as having gastrointestinal issues or anxiety when it’s actually a heart issue. We have to work on this advocacy to assure that women can have the resources and diagnostic tools they need to stay healthy and have access to treatment,” Dr. Amritphale states. As the director of the Women’s Heart Program at the University of South Alabama and the University Hospital in Mobile, Alabama, and as an Interventional Cardiologist, he can provide extensive literature for highlighting the issue. “I have taken up the onus to educate women of all ages to teach them the signs of heart disease and preventive methods so that they can seek help before it is too late,” he says. “The true impact of Dr. Amritphale’s work for Women’s Heart Health and research will be in the care of patients. The potential for personalized treatment plans and drug protocols using artificial intelligence algorithms will give providers better access to information across medical facilities and exponentially increase the quality of patient care that can be described as life-changing” said Dr. Bhartee, an Internal Medicine and Sleep Specialist from Missouri.

What’s different about Dr. Amritphale’s methodology is that not only is he advocating for, treating, and making preventative changes for women and their risk of heart disease, but he is also doing so using computer algorithm programs that he designed. He is also the Director of Cardiovascular Research at the University. “I am involved in extensive research. My focus of research is “Use of Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence in making better decisions in the field of medicine” and I am also using national databases like Healthcare Utilization Project (HCUP). I use this program to develop algorithms that help identify patients who are at increased risk of bad outcomes so that we can preemptively identify them and help them before the worsening of disease processes occur. This helps people live better and live longer and prevents untimely or early death,” Dr. Amritphale says. This method is uniquely his, and he is revolutionizing how people can detect, treat, and determine cardiovascular treatment success with these programs he uses in daily practice. 

Dr. Amritphale is a world authority on issues of refractory angina, a condition with highly advanced coronary artery disease and blockages in heart arteries. Where all medications are proving inadequate, he has shown the pathway of using mechanical therapies to help such patients with extremely advanced heart disease. (Amritphale A, Amritphale N. Refractory Angina: The Current State of Mechanical Therapies. Curr Cardiol Rep. 2019 Apr 22;21(6):46. doi: 10.1007/s11886-019-1134-8. PMID: 31011835.) With various cardiovascular treatments and surgical processes, Dr. Amritphale is able to detect and predict whether or not patients will need to return for an unplanned readmission with his artificial intelligence computer algorithm. From the abstract from his academic study, he and his team of researchers had successful results. “We present a novel deep neural network-based artificial intelligence prediction model to help identify a subgroup of patients undergoing carotid artery stenting who are at risk for short term unplanned readmissions. Prior studies have attempted to develop prediction models but have used mainly logistic regression models and have low prediction ability. The novel model presented in this study boasts 79% capability to accurately predict individuals for unplanned readmissions post carotid artery stenting within 30 days of discharge,” (Amritphale, A., Chatterjee, R., Chatterjee, S. et al. Predictors of 30-Day Unplanned Readmission After Carotid Artery Stenting Using Artificial Intelligence. Adv Ther (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12325-021-01709-7). 

This innovation is the next step to making sure women’s heart health is properly researched, recognized, diagnosed, and treated. His advocacy and computer algorithm are seventy-nine percent accurate to determine the healing, successes of a treatment, and any risk factors that would bring the patient back within thirty days after cardiac stenting surgery. “The global impact of Dr. Amritphale’s research and work is such that ultimately more people are living healthier and longer lives. He is leading researchers the world over and showing them the path to use Deep Neural Network and other forms of Artificial Intelligence methods to find results no one thought was possible” said Cardiologist Dr. Alexandra Joseph.

Dr. Amod Amritphale is innovative and strategizes and prioritizes the health of his patients and their treatment success. This is making heart health a better researched and understood factor so that heart medicine can move beyond the one-size-fits-all-approach.