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Cooper University Health Care has added another life-saving device to its arsenal: the Viz Aortic, an artificial intelligence-powered software designed to detect abdominal aortic aneurysms. 

The Camden health care provider announced June 12 that it was the first in the U.S. to use this technology from Viz.ai – a company founded by a team at Stanford Business School that develops AI-powered technology “to increase the speed of diagnosis” in the health care industry. 

An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a bulging or ballooning in a portion of the aorta that runs through the abdomen, according to Cooper University. If not caught in time, this can break open, causing life-threatening internal bleeding. 

The Viz Aortic technology “will enable us to detect abdominal aortic aneurysms earlier, which can lead to improved surveillance, more thoughtful interventional planning, and ultimately lifesaving care,” Dr. Philip Batista, a vascular and endovascular surgeon at Cooper who led the clinical implementation of the new technology, said in a statement. 

Batista added that the Cooper University team was proud to be the first hospital in the nation to use the technology in daily clinical practice. 

How does it work?

Viz Aortic uses AI to automatically search for the presence of an abdominal aortic aneurysm from computed tomography angiography (CTA) from any scanner in a hospital network — in real time.  

The software uses advanced AI algorithms to identify subtle changes in the size and shape of the aorta, which can lead to early diagnosis and intervention. Viz.ai received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for this technology in March.   

“This software holds immense potential for transforming the way we approach patient care,” said Dr. Snehal Gandhi, chief medical information officer and medical director of hospital medicine at Cooper University. 

In May, Cooper University’s Innovation Center announced it was teaming up Old Bridge-headquartered DigiCARE Realized to test an AI-powered technology designed to identify undiagnosed cases of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.