Cedars-Smidt Sinai’s Heart Institute researchers have shown that the shape of your heart and certain genetic markers may indicate your risk of developing atrial fibrillation and heart muscle disease.

Patients with round hearts, similar in shape to a baseball, were found to be 31% more likely to develop atrial fibrillation and 24% more likely to develop cardiomyopathy than those with longer hearts shaped like a traditional Valentine’s heart.

Deep learning-enabled measurement of left ventricular sphericity index

The study, published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Med-Cell Press, examined cardiac MRI images from 38,897 healthy people to identify genetic markers linked to the risk of developing these cardiac conditions. Atrial fibrillation raises the risk of stroke, while cardiomyopathy can result in heart failure; both conditions affect millions of people worldwide, CBS News reports.

Cardiologists at Cedars-Sinai emphasize the potential for cardiac imaging and deep learning for diagnosing and preventing heart conditions before they become life-threatening diseases. They also stress the importance of understanding how a heart changes shape when sick and identifying genetic variations affecting the heart. The findings shed light on effective prevention methods for these conditions.

Images: MidJourney, Prompts by Lewis Farrel

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