There is a common myth that heart disease is more of a problem for men than women, however women and men die at equal rates from heart disease. Studies have shown that men’s heart health is more researched and prioritized over women’s heart health which creates an issue in diagnostics. Misdiagnosis or under diagnosis plague women with hidden heart issues and they won’t always get the treatment they need. Because of this irritating and unethical issue, cardiologist and researcher, Dr. Amod Amritphale is working to change this outcome of heart health in women. 

Symptoms of heart disease in women are very different than men, but the warning signs for men are published more in the media and are known to be more obvious than for women. Because of this, one woman will die every minute of cardiovascular disease and ninety percent of women have at least one risk factor that could tell them they have a chance of heart disease later on. Many more women die from cardiovascular disease than men and the gap is still widening.

“A lot of women with significant symptoms have been misdiagnosed as having anxiety or stress instead. 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 middle age to teach them the signs of heart disease and preventive methods so that they can seek help before it is too late,” he says. 

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 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. 

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). “Anything that could give rise to smarter-than-human intelligence—in the form of Artificial Intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, or neuroscience-based human intelligence enhancement – wins hands down and Dr. Amritphale is harnessing this power for the betterment of society as a whole” said Dr. Khanijao an Internal Medicine & Pulmonary specialist from Maimonides Medical Center, New York.

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. Dr. Amritphale is an authority in the field, and researchers/clinicians the world over should follow in the new vistas opened up by his research.” said prominent cardiologist Dr. A. Joseph.

Dr. Amritphale is at the top of his endeavor when it comes to leading research for treating patients with advanced heart blockages. The condition called refractory angina is one where all medications have proven inadequate and patients are utterly suffering. In patients with such advanced disease, he has shown a pathway to clinicians & researchers worldwide to use mechanical and invasive therapies. This has opened up new vistas of researchers and has been cited by many researchers, notably those at University Hospital Richmond Medical Center in Ohio. (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.)  

Heart health strategy and prioritization is important and Dr. Amritphale made the changes to make sure it won’t be overlooked. With his research in machine learning and as an authority in this field, he is changing the future of the threat of heart disease for everyone, especially women and guiding researchers at a global scale.